All For The Love Of A Rose
by nieshka
Summary: KuramaxOC, slight HieixOC. Hiroe and Hinoto Aihara are not-so-normal sisters who lived normal lives until their parents are murdered. Suddenly, the Reikai's involved, Yusuke and the gang become their guardians, and all hell breaks loose.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

It was still dark one Sunday morning but there was already a lot of activity in a certain household. Movers went from room to room, depositing furniture and other items. An hour later, as the sun began to rise, it was just down to one last box.

"Just set that down in the kitchen then you may go," a girl with waist length purple hair said.

"Yes, Miss Aihara."

The movers went to do her bidding then they bowed to the girl and left. She closed the door after them and sighed heavily.

Hiroe Aihara's intense grey eyes surveyed the house she would be calling home from now on. Unwelcome images and memories filtered inside her mind and she shook her head as if to clear it. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts so she went to start unpacking in the kitchen.

A few minutes later, Hiroe heard someone going down the stairs. She called out, "In the kitchen, Hinoto!"

Another girl entered the kitchen, her shoulder length black hair bouncing as she walked. Her violet eyes sparkled and an excited look was on her face. "Isn't this great, Hiroe? I'm almost done unpacking in my room. Oh, we just have to go shopping! I need some curtains and carpets…ooh! And maybe a new bedspread to match!"

Hiroe raised her eyebrow. "How about you just help me unpack the rest of the stuff first, Hinoto?"

Hinoto pouted. "You're no fun, Hiroe. I bet other older sisters would jump at the chance to go shopping."

Hiroe laughed at Hinoto's expression. "Oh, come on. We just got here! Let's at least make this place livable before we start accumulating more stuff. There'll be plenty of time to shop later."

Hinoto's face brightened at this. "Cool!" she said.

The sisters started unpacking again and by midmorning, the first floor of their new house was finished. A pile of cardboard boxes were folded up in the corner of the living room and beside it were some plastic covering that they had removed from the furniture. Hiroe smiled as she looked around.

"Well, we got a lot done this morning. I guess we can take a break now. How about we go out for breakfast?" she asked, turning to Hinoto.

"Finally! I was wondering when we can go exploring. I want to find out where the nearest mall is!" exclaimed Hinoto. She jumped up from her sitting position on the couch and ran up to her room to get dressed.

Hiroe laughed and shook her head. She picked up the plastic and boxes and threw them in the trash. Just then, her cellphone began to ring. She fished in her pocket for it and quickly answered, "Hello?"

"Hiroe? This is Haruo," a deep male voice said.

"Oh, good morning, sir!" Hiroe replied.

Atty. Haruo Ninomiya laughed. "Oh, Hiroe, I told you not to call me 'sir' or 'attorney'. It makes me feel old."

"I'm sorry, sir, I guess I'm just used to it," admitted Hiroe

"Anyway, I called to ask you to pass by my house today. I took the liberty of enrolling the two of you in some nearby schools so could you come by so I can give you your uniforms? There's also some paperwork here that I need to discuss with you."

"Of course, sir. I'll make time after lunch," Hiroe said while checking her watch.

"All right. And please, try to practice calling me Haruo," he chuckled.

Hiroe smiled. "I'll try, Haruo-san."

"See? You _can_ call me by my first name. I'll see you later, OK?"

"OK. Bye!"

Hiroe heard Haruo chuckle again on the other end of the line and then there was a click. She put the phone back in her pocket and went to her room to get dressed.

"Now, let's see if I can find my clothes."

* * *

Later that afternoon, Hinoto happily skipped along a row of shops and Hiroe walked a little bit behind her. Hiroe checked her watch and saw that it was time to meet up with Atty. Ninomiya.

"Hey, Hinoto! Wait up a sec!" she called out.

Hinoto stopped skipping and waited for her sister to catch up. "What's up?" she asked.

"I have to go to Haruo-san's house for a while. Apparently he enrolled us in some schools and I have to work out some details with him so we can start tomorrow," Hiroe explained.

Hinoto blanched. "School? Oh, man! Can't we at least get a week off before we start?"

Hiroe said dryly, "In case you forgot, we haven't gone to school for nearly two months now. I think that's enough of a break for you."

Hinoto made a face. "Fine. So, do I have to come with you?"

"Only if you want to. Or we can just meet up again later. We have some grocery shopping to do anyway. The fridge is absolutely empty," Hiroe replied.

Hinoto perked up upon hearing the word "shopping". Hiroe slapped her hand to her forehead and muttered, "Why me?"

Hinoto rolled her eyes at her sister. "Just go already, Hiroe. I'll just walk around and get to know the neighborhood."

Hiroe looked at Hinoto skeptically and retorted, "Right. The only 'neighborhood' you'll be getting to know is the nearest mall. Try not to spend all of our money, OK?"

Hinoto stuck her tongue out at Hiroe. Hiroe laughed, waved goodbye to Hinoto and left.

* * *

Hiroe rang the doorbell at the Ninomiya residence. Moments later, a tall, pretty woman with mint green hair and hazel eyes answered the door. Hiroe smiled in greeting. "Good afternoon, Ninomiya-san."

"Oh, it's you, Hiroe! Come on in. And remember, I told you to call me Katsumi!" the older woman reminded her.

Hiroe scratched her head and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, Katsumi-san. I just can't get used to calling you and Haruo-san by your first names."

"That's OK, dear. Just go on up to Haruo's study. He's expecting you," Katsumi said as she ushered Hiroe inside the house.

"Thanks, Katsumi-san," replied Hiroe as she hurried up the stairs to Haruo's office. She was about to knock when the door suddenly opened, surprising her a little.

"Ah, Hiroe! I thought I heard you arrive," said Haruo as he waved Hiroe into his office.

"Sorry I'm late, Haruo-san. I was with Hinoto and you know how she gets when she's at the mall."

Haruo chuckled. "Oh, yes. I remember. Yutaka once said that Hinoto can drive a man to bankruptcy."

Hiroe's expression saddened at the mention of her father's name. Haruo quickly changed the subject. "Anyway, here are the papers you'll need for school tomorrow and I also bought the books the school required. I left the uniforms downstairs with Katsumi, just pick them up on your way out."

As Haruo continued to describe the details to Hiroe, she read the papers Haruo gave her. _Meiou_ _Senior High School, huh. Hope it's a good school_, she thought. Then she noticed something that confused her. "Hinoto and I are attending different schools?"

Haruo glanced back at Hiroe. "Yes. Evidently Meiou is only a senior high school. Since Hinoto's still in junior high, I enrolled her in the nearest one, Sarayashiki Junior High School."

Haruo and Hiroe discussed other particulars and when they were done, Hiroe stood up to leave.

"Thanks for everything, Haruo-san," Hiroe said as she bowed to Haruo.

Haruo looked at Hiroe, a concerned look on his face. "Hiroe, are you sure you won't consider living with us? When your father assigned me as your guardian in his will, I promised that I wouldn't let anything happen to you. I know he stipulated that you'd be the one to decide where you'd stay but I'm not really comfortable with a fifteen year old girl and her fourteen year old sister living on their own"

Hiroe smiled sadly at Haruo. "Haruo-san, I really appreciate all that you've done for us but we don't wish to impose. Besides, Dad provided us with everything we could possibly need so you don't have to worry about us."

Haruo sighed. "I love you like my own daughter, Hiroe, but you sure are stubborn, just like Yutaka. Just promise me something. Make sure to come here every weekend to update me, OK?"

Hiroe nodded. "I promise and thanks again, Haruo-san. I'll make sure to bring Hinoto with me next time." She bowed again and closed the door as she left the room.

Haruo smiled wryly and sighed. "She sure resembles you a lot, Yutaka."

* * *

Hiroe went down the stairs and looked for Katsumi. She found the older woman in the kitchen preparing dinner. "Katsumi-san, I'm going ahead. Haruo-san told me to ask you where the uniforms are."

"What? Won't you stay for dinner, Hiroe?" Katsumi asked.

"No, thank you, Katsumi-san. Hinoto's waiting for me and I told her I'd just be quick. We'll probably just order out," Hiroe answered.

"OK, then. Follow me. I put your uniforms in the coat closet near the front door," said Katsumi.

Hiroe followed Katsumi to the front door and waited as Katsumi retrieved the uniforms. As Katsumi handed them to Hiroe, she said, "The blue and yellow ones are for Hinoto. The pink ones are yours. You and Hinoto should buy shoes and socks."

Hiroe's nose wrinkled in distaste. "Ugh, pink? Honestly. Maybe I should switch schools with Hinoto. She loves pink."

Katsumi giggled at Hiroe's reaction. "But your hair matches well with pink."

Hiroe flipped her purple hair and sighed. "Unfortunately, I guess it does. Ah, well. Nothing I can do about it anyway. Well, thanks for your time, Katsumi-san. I'll see you next week, OK?"

Katsumi nodded as she opened the door. "And stay for dinner next time, all right?"

Hiroe bowed to Katsumi. "OK, Katsumi-san. Bye! And thanks again!"

Katsumi waved goodbye and closed the door. Hiroe slung the garment bags over her shoulders, brought out her cellphone and dialed Hinoto's number. After a few rings, Hinoto picked up.

"Hey, Hiroe! Oh, you'll never believe what I found at the shoe store. It's an absolute bargain!" exclaimed Hinoto.

Hiroe sighed resignedly. "Don't you have enough shoes, Hinoto?"

"But this pair is just absolutely irresistible!" gushed her sister.

Hiroe rolled her eyes and said, "Why do I even bother reasoning with you when it comes to shopping? Anyway, since you're there, buy us each a pair of school shoes and some socks. You know my size, right?"

"Of course I know your size," sniffed Hinoto, sounding offended.

"I don't doubt it. When it comes to shopping, there's no one who does it better," Hiroe said sarcastically.

"OK, anything else?" asked Hinoto.

"Nope, that's it for me. I have to pass by our house to drop off these garment bags then I'll meet you in the grocery store in an hour, OK?"

"Yep! See you later, bye! Ooh, miss, do you have this in size 6?" said Hinoto as she ended the call.

Hiroe shook her head as she placed her phone back in her pocket and headed home.

* * *

Hiroe stood in front of the grocery store, tapping her foot impatiently. _Where the heck is she? She was supposed to meet me here half an hour ago,_ she thought irritably.

"HIROE!" a voice behind her called.

Hiroe turned to find Hinoto and what must be fifty shopping bags on her arms.

"You're late, Hinoto," said Hiroe with slight annoyance.

"Oh, pish tosh. What's a few minutes? Anyway, I'm here, aren't I?" Hinoto said, her black hair bouncing with each step.

"You are unbelievable. Besides, how are you going to help me with the groceries while carrying all those bags? What did you do anyway, buy everything in the shoe store?" Hiroe said incredulously.

Hinoto grinned sheepishly. "Guess I didn't think of that. Can you do the groceries by yourself then? I'll just go on home."

Hiroe sighed and threw her hands up in the air. "It's not like I have a choice. Geez, Hinoto."

Hinoto winked and blew Hiroe a kiss. She knew her sister wasn't really mad at her. She started walking and called out, "I'll see you at home!"

Hiroe mumbled incoherently under her breath and headed inside the grocery. She went to grab a shopping basket distractedly until she bumped a woman who was getting the same bin. The woman was surprised and almost fell backwards when Hiroe snapped back to awareness and caught her before she fell. Hiroe began to apologize profusely.

"Oh my gosh, ma'am, I'm so sorry! I wasn't paying attention at all. It was entirely my fault," she said while bowing deeply.

"What's going on, Mother?" a male voice behind Hiroe said.

Hiroe turned to the sound while still bowing. "I'm so sorry! I hit your mom because of my carelessness."

Hiroe felt the woman's hand on her shoulder. She didn't dare look up. Then the woman said, "It's quite all right, dear. I wasn't really paying attention, either. It's as much my fault as yours. Do stand up, please."

Hiroe straightened and saw a petite woman with long black hair smiling at her. She looked at the person standing next to her and her heartbeat quickened when she did so. He was quite possibly the most handsome guy she'd ever seen. Hiroe could feel a blush rushing to her cheeks. She quickly turned away from him and focused her attention on the woman beside him.

"I'm really sorry, ma'am. Here, let me help you with the basket," Hiroe said, trying to slow down her heart rate.

"That's OK, I got it. And here's one for you too," the woman's son said.

Hiroe muttered her thanks and glanced at her feet.

The woman looked at her curiously. "I've never seen you around here before, dear. Are you new in town?"

Hiroe smiled in relief and jumped at the chance to avoid looking at her incredibly good looking son. "Yes, ma'am. We just moved in today."

"Oh, really? I'm sorry for asking, it's just that I know almost everyone in the neighborhood who shop here in this store. I'm Shiori Minamino, by the way, and this is my son, Shuuichi," she said, pointing to her son.

Hiroe reluctantly turned to Shuuichi and caught her breath. _Oh, my…,_ she thought as her heartbeat raced. She bowed slightly in acknowledgement and also to avert her gaze.

_Stop it, Hiroe! So, he's the most unbelievably handsome guy you've ever seen. Big deal! Get a grip!_ she mentally berated herself. Aloud she said, "It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I'm Hiroe Aihara. We just moved into one of the houses near the woods."

"That's a lovely area! You're lucky, I hear the houses there are pretty hard to get because they're so in demand," Shiori commented.

"Well, my dad bought it a long time ago but we never really got to use it until now," Hiroe replied, trying to keep the sadness out of her voice.

Sensing the change in Hiroe's mood, Shiori quickly changed the subject. "Well, I really should let you get to your shopping then. Your parents must be waiting for you to get home. Maybe I can invite you and your family to dinner sometime to welcome you to the neighborhood. Just give me your contact number, OK?"

Hiroe nodded mutely and quickly wrote down her cell number in the address book Shiori fished out of her handbag. She handed the book back to Shiori and excused herself politely. "I'll be going on ahead. It was nice meeting you both."

Shiori smiled as Hiroe turned to walk away. She called out, "Expect a call from me soon, dear!"

Hiroe again nodded and waved to the pair before turning around and entering the grocery store.

* * *

"What a sweet girl, don't you think so, Shuuichi?" Shiori asked after Hiroe left.

Shuuichi, as Youko Kurama is called in the Ningenkai, nodded as his emerald eyes stared after Hiroe.

Shiori looked at her son's distracted face and said casually, "Beautiful too."

"Extremely," was his short but meaningful reply.

Shiori laughed at her son's response. Kurama must have realized what he said and started to blush, "I mean…," he started.

"It's OK, Shuuichi. It's not often that I see your head turn over a pretty girl. Come to think of it, I've probably never seen you staring after a girl even when you can't see her anymore. She must have left quite an impression on you," commented Shiori.

Kurama smiled at his mother and said, "You're not going to start matchmaking, are you, Mother?"

Shiori winked at her son and said, "Well, I _do_ have her number."

Kurama laughed and followed Shiori as she went inside the store, carrying the grocery basket for her. As Shiori shopped, his thoughts went back to Hiroe.

_Yes, she's certainly beautiful. I know I've never seen her before, I'd never forget a beauty like that, but why does she look familiar to me? There's something else about her that I just can't put my finger on,_ he thought. Then he shook his head, figuring he was thinking too much and gave his full attention to his mother.

* * *

Hiroe stood at the cashier and sighed. She paid for her groceries and headed home. Along the way, she recalled her encounter with Shiori and Shuuichi Minamino.

_Dammit, Mom and Dad. Why'd you have to die? _she thought miserably.

When she reached her house, she went directly to the kitchen and started stocking the fridge and cupboards with the items she bought. She heard Hinoto call out from upstairs, "Hiroe, I am _so_ glad you're back."

"Yeah, I'm in the kitchen, Hinoto," she called back.

Hiroe heard Hinoto coming down the stairs. She turned around and was surprised to see Hinoto wearing her new school uniform.

"You've got to be kidding, Hiroe. This shade of blue just blows! And what's with this yellow bow? It totally clashes with my eyes!" complained Hinoto.

Hiroe rolled her eyes at Hinoto. "It's a school uniform, Hinoto, not haute couture."

"Who says you have to be unfashionable when wearing school uniforms? I mean, it's what you wear almost everyday for several years so you might as well try to look good in it. Ugh, how come you get a nice pink color?!" wailed Hinoto.

"Get over it," Hiroe retorted.

Hinoto crossed her arms over her chest and said, "What's got your panties in a bunch?"

Hiroe sighed, "It's nothing. I just miss mom and dad, that's all."

Hinoto was quiet. Then she said softly, "I miss them too, you know."

"I…it's just…I don't know. I'd probably feel more at peace with their deaths if I knew it was really just a car accident. But what you saw…that man…I just…" Hiroe said haltingly.

Hinoto looked away and said, "Maybe it was just a bad dream. Maybe it really was an accident."

Hiroe looked sharply at Hinoto and said, "We both know that your visions are all accurate, Hinoto. Someone murdered our parents, and I intend to find out who it is."

"What are you going to do if you find him? It's not like he can bring our parents back," asked Hinoto.

"I don't really care about that. _When_ I find him, I'm going to kill him."

* * *

**A/N: **I wasn't really sure if Meiou High also has junior high school but for the sake of my story I just made the assumption that it didn't. Ningenkai is the Japanese term for human world. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER TWO**

Bright and early the next morning, Hiroe was awoken before her alarm sounded by Hinoto who jumped excitedly on the bed. "Wake up, Hiroe! Time for school!" chirped Hinoto.

Hiroe rubbed her eyes and snuggled deeper in the covers. She turned to look at Hinoto blearily. "Well aren't you little miss sunshine. I thought you didn't even want to start school," she moaned.

Hinoto shrugged. "I figured I couldn't get out of it anyway. Plus, I want to check out if there are any cute guys in my new school. Maybe make some girl friends too."

"This isn't a shopping trip, you know. It's school. People go there to study?" grumbled Hiroe grumpily.

"Look who got out on the wrong side of the bed," said Hinoto.

"I'm not even out of bed yet, Hinoto. Actually, I didn't really sleep well last night," admitted Hiroe.

"Something on your mind?" said Hinoto, thinking about their conversation the previous night.

Hiroe shook her head. "Not really. Must be I'm not used to this place yet," she fibbed. In truth, she was plagued with thoughts about Shuuichi Minamino. She mentally scolded herself, _Dammit, it's not like you haven't seen a gorgeous guy before. What's the matter with you? You'll probably never see him again so get a grip! There are more important things to think about._

"Anyway, I'm going on ahead. I want to see what the school looks like," said Hinoto.

"You sure are full of surprises this morning. What about breakfast? I could fix something before you go," said Hiroe as she got up and turned off her alarm.

"I'll just grab something from the fridge and eat it on the way. See ya!" Hinoto said. A few moments later, Hiroe heard the front door close.

_I guess I should get moving as well so I'd have time to check where my classes are going to be._ She took a quick shower and got dressed. When she was done, she checked her bag making sure that all her books and things were there. She went downstairs and ate some cereal before heading to school.

* * *

"OK, Room 232 for English, Room 316 for Math…" Hiroe mumbled to herself as she stared at her class schedule. She was so intent on reading the paper in her hand and was oblivious to her surroundings until she bumped into someone causing her to drop her things and lose her balance. She was about to fall flat on her butt when the person she bumped into caught her hand.

"You know, if we keep meeting like this I'll begin to think you're the clumsiest girl alive," said a male voice.

Hiroe instantly recognized the voice and looked up to see none other than Shuuichi Minamino. Hiroe blushed before she could stop herself and stuttered, "I am so sorry, Minamino-san. I wasn't paying attention. Again."

Kurama chuckled. "Shuuichi is fine, Aihara-san. I wasn't really looking where I was going either."

Hiroe smiled, finally getting her composure back. She looked down at their hands which were still clasped together. "If I'm going to call you Shuuichi then please just call me Hiroe. Umm, you can let go of my hand now. I think I'm OK, thanks."

Kurama blushed and quickly let go of Hiroe's hand while mumbling, "Sorry, I kinda forgot I was holding it."

Hiroe giggled. "It's fine, Shuuichi. I'm glad I bumped into you. I don't know anyone here yet so it's nice to see a familiar face."

Kurama bent down and started to pick up the things Hiroe dropped. Seeing this, Hiroe also remembered her stuff and immediately helped out. When Kurama saw Hiroe's class schedule, he picked it up and glanced at it. He grinned. "Well, you'll be seeing a lot more of this familiar face of mine. Seems we have every class together. I go to Meiou too."

"You're kidding."

Kurama shook his head. "Nope, not according to my schedule."

"This is great!" exclaimed Hiroe. She realized she must have sounded too eager and amended, "I mean, at least I won't get lost getting to my classes. If you don't mind my company, that is."

"Why would I mind the company of a pretty girl like you?" asked Kurama.

Hiroe clutched her chest and pretended to have a heart attack. She gasped out, "Help! I'm stuck with a pretty boy slash ladies' man!"

Kurama laughed heartily. "We have ourselves a comic, folks."

Hiroe grinned at this. "I think I ate too much cereal. Sugar high is making me act up."

The two started walking together, chatting along the way. When they neared the school gates, Hiroe stopped when she heard something.

"Do you hear that, Shuuichi?" asked Hiroe.

Kurama sighed heavily and muttered, "Oh no. Here we go. Do you mind stepping aside a little?"

Hiroe looked questioningly at Kurama but did as she was told. Suddenly, a crowd of girls wearing Meiou uniforms came from nowhere and surrounded Kurama, squealing as they did so.

"Good morning, Shuuichi-kun!" the girls practically screamed at him.

"Good morning to you too, everyone," Kurama said while scratching his head.

A gorgeous girl with long blonde hair and black eyes latched onto Kurama's right arm and said, "Shuuichi-kun, will you walk me to class?"

Hiroe stared at the scene before her with growing amusement. Kurama gently eased his arm from the girl's grasp and said, "I can't, Nakashima-san. I'm with someone today."

Michiyo Nakashima pouted. "Oh? Who might that be?"

Kurama pointed to where Hiroe was standing. All the girls turned to Hiroe making her shift uncomfortably. Sensing her discomfort, Kurama pushed through the crowd to get to her and hurriedly said, "If you'll excuse me, we have to get to class. Bye!"

Kurama grabbed Hiroe's hand and ran to the school building while pulling her along. When they were inside, Kurama looked at Hiroe apologetically. "Sorry about that. I kind of used you as an excuse."

Hiroe looked at Kurama amusedly and asked, "I guess I was right about the pretty boy slash ladies' man comment. You're the only one I know besides Hinoto who has his own fan club at school. Does this happen every morning?"

Kurama blushed. "For as long as I can remember. It's not like I enjoy having one. Who's Hinoto?"

"She's my younger sister. She has this group of guys always trailing behind her at our old school. Difference is, she actually likes the attention. Although, come to think of it, I can't understand why you don't enjoy the whole fan club deal. Most guys would kill to have cute girls clamoring for their attention," Hiroe pointed out.

Kurama shrugged, "Well I'm not really like most guys. Not to be rude but I really wish they'd leave me alone. And I don't want you to take this the wrong way but you're one of the very few girls who don't treat me that way."

Hiroe chuckled, "But you only just met me. How do you know I won't eventually join their fan club and go squealing whenever I see your beautiful face?"

Kurama blanched. "You're not serious, are you?"

Hiroe let out a small laugh. "Are you insane? Of course I'm not serious. The day I lose my head over a pretty boy like you will be the day I shoot myself in the head."

Kurama laughed. "I know I should feel insulted but oddly enough it comes as a relief to me. It's probably why I've felt at ease with you ever since we met. You're not like other girls."

Hiroe looked away so Kurama won't see the blush rising to her cheeks. She laughed to cover her nervousness. "I can see why those girls are crazy about you. You sure know the right words to flatter a girl. Careful, I might start believing you if you keep that up."

Kurama just laughed again and the two walked to class, neither one noticing that he never let go of her hand.

* * *

Michiyo's eyes narrowed as she stared after Kurama and Hiroe walking inside the school hand in hand.

"Who the hell is she? Some new girl? And how does he know _our_ Shuuichi-sama?" the girls from Kurama's fan club were asking.

Michiyo raised her hand for silence and the girls become quiet.

"As president of Shuuichi-kun's fan club, I can't let this girl steal him away from us. Let's all find out what we can about her," Michiyo said.

The girls nodded and murmured among themselves. Michiyo seethed internally, _How dare that hussy make time with _my_ Shuuichi._

She stalked inside the school building, muttering to herself.

* * *

Outside Meiou's gates, a tall figure with black hair and dark blue eyes leaned against the wall and watched as Kurama and Hiroe walked away.

_So, the legendary thief Youko Kurama has his eyes on Hiroe as well. This will be interesting,_ he thought.

He walked away, deep in thought when two guys who looked exactly alike from their long, aquamarine hair to their light blue eyes joined him.

"What are you planning, Masahiro?" asked one of the twins.

Masahiro looked at them and said, "Now that Youko Kurama is involved, we have to tread carefully. I don't want to risk anything."

The twins looked at each other and said in unison, "Youko Kurama? How did he get into the picture?"

Masahiro chuckled at this. "Well, it's unfortunate that he and Hiroe have somehow crossed paths but this doesn't change anything. We'll observe how things progress for a while; see if this is nothing more than a brief incident. Hiroe mostly keeps to herself and hopefully this budding friendship never develops. Satoru, Satoshi, I want you to keep an eye on them."

The twins, Satoru and Satoshi, bowed and were gone in a flash. Masahiro continued walking and thought, _No one is going to get in my way, not even Kurama. Hiroe is mine._

* * *

Hiroe stretched her arms as the lunch bell rang. Kurama, who was seated a few chairs behind Hiroe, glanced at her. He stood up and started to walk towards her when several boys blocked his way.

"Uhh, hi guys. What's up?" Kurama asked.

"Spill the beans, Minamino. Is she your girlfriend?" one of the boys asked.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Kurama said, confused.

The boys looked at him exasperatedly. Another one nudged his head frantically towards Hiroe's direction. A look of understanding crossed Kurama's face which quickly turned to mirth.

"No, she's not my girlfriend. I just met her yesterday at the grocery store," explained Kurama.

They looked at him dubiously, "Then why were the two of you holding hands when you went in the classroom? Come on, Minamino. Just tell us what's up."

Kurama blushed. "Seriously, guys. We're just friends. We were running from Nakashima-san this morning and I just sort of grabbed her hand."

They all nodded understandingly. Another guy said, "That Nakashima sure is persistent. At least she's hot. But damn, she doesn't hold a candle to Aihara. She is just _fine_! So you're really not her boyfriend?"

Kurama laughed. "Really, I'm not."

Suddenly, the boys all left Kurama and surrounded Hiroe. Kurama crossed his arms over his chest and looked amused.

"Aihara-san, would you do us the honor of eating lunch with us?" the boys said.

Hiroe looked at them and then she spotted Kurama standing near his chair. His eyebrow rose in question and his eyes sparkled with laughter. Her eyes narrowed slightly at him then she said in a voice loud enough for him to hear, "Sorry guys, I can't. I'm eating lunch with Shuuichi."

The boys turned back to glare at Kurama. Before they could react, Hiroe went over to Kurama, grabbed his arm and headed out the door. When they were safely out of earshot Kurama said, "You did that on purpose."

"Did what?" said Hiroe innocently.

"Oh, you know what I mean!"

Hiroe winked at Kurama. "Consider it as payback for what happened with your fan club this morning."

Kurama chuckled. "You're sneaky. Seems as though I'm not the only one with a fan club around here anymore."

Hiroe scoffed at this. Kurama just shook his head. "Well since we're eating lunch together, you want to go outside? We can stay under the tree near the…"

Kurama trailed off as he saw Michiyo walking towards them. He groaned inwardly. Hiroe wondered why Kurama suddenly stopped talking and turned to where he was looking. She whispered to Kurama, "I don't think she's seen us yet. Come on, let's head to the roof." Kurama nodded and the pair ran upstairs.

When they got to the roof, they shut the door behind them. They both leaned back against the door, panting lightly. Hiroe giggled. Kurama looked at her strangely and asked, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing really. I just didn't expect to spend my first day at school running away from crazy fangirls and avoiding guys who want to eat lunch with me. I normally do those things on my second day at school," joked Hiroe.

Kurama chortled. "Well, you better get used to it if you're going to be friends with me. And I better get used to the dagger looks those guys were giving me. I swear if looks could kill…"

Hiroe turned to look at Kurama, surprised. "Friends? Really?"

Kurama shrugged uncomfortably, suddenly unsure of himself. "Aren't we?"

Hiroe smiled, "I guess we are."

* * *

At the end of the day, Kurama and Hiroe left school together. When they reached the place where they bumped into each other that morning, Hiroe turned to Kurama and said, "Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Shuuichi."

Kurama blushed lightly and hurriedly asked, "Do you want me to walk you home?"

Hiroe looked surprised at this then smiled. "I don't want to bother you. It might be out of your way."

Kurama looked down and shuffled his feet, "Right, some other time then." Mentally, he kicked himself. _What the hell are you doing, Kurama?_

Hiroe waved goodbye. "I'll just meet up with you here tomorrow morning, same time." With that, she turned and left.

Kurama smiled as he stared after Hiroe. When she disappeared from view, he started walking home. A few moments later, he heard the trees rustling behind him. Without turning around he said, "What is it?"

A short guy with spiky black and white hair appeared behind him. "Hn. It figures you'd know I was here."

Kurama finally turned around. "You've been following me since this morning, Hiei. What's up?"

Hiei crossed his arms over his chest. "We have another mission and Botan sent me to get you. But before we go, what's with you and that human?"

"You mean Hiroe?" asked Kurama.

Hiei nodded and Kurama shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just made friends with her, that's all."

Hiei raised his eyebrow. "That didn't look like just making friends to me. You don't usually go out of your way to socialize because of what we do and who we are. What are you doing, Kurama?"

Kurama looked away and replied, "It's not that big a deal, Hiei."

Hiei turned his back on Kurama. "Hn. Suit yourself. It's none of my business anyway. Just remember what happened with that Maya Kitajima girl you used to be friends with." Then he disappeared.

Kurama heaved a sigh. _He's right. I should know better, but there's something about her I can't let go off. Why does she seem so familiar to me? Why am I so drawn to her? I just have to figure it out,_ he thought.

With these thoughts in mind, he quickly followed after Hiei.

* * *

**A/N:** I think Japanese students take all their subjects in just one classroom but I obviously changed that so screw me. Maya Kitajima is the name of the girl Kurama liked when he first met Hiei. Kurama erased her memories shortly after a demon attack. Read Two Shots, a special story in manga volume 7. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE**

Koenma sat behind his desk and waited for Botan to close the door to his office. He looked at the four seated in front of him and said, "Botan probably already told you what this is all about."

A guy with orange hair said, "Something about a murder, right?"

Koenma nodded and said, "That's right, Kuwabara. Now we don't normally investigate murders here in the Reikai and are mostly concerned with keeping the demons away from the Ningenkai."

Another guy with slicked back black hair spoke up, "So what makes this case so different?"

Koenma replied, "What makes this so different, Yusuke, is because the murderer is a demon."

Kurama looked surprised at this and said, "Demons eat humans all the time. Doesn't that qualify as murder? What's so special about this?"

"Well there's the fact that the demon didn't eat them. And also that the murder wasn't scheduled to happen," said Koenma.

"What do you mean 'it wasn't scheduled'?" asked Kuwabara.

"Remember how Yusuke wasn't supposed to save that kid and how he wasn't supposed to die? It's the same thing here. The people who were murdered weren't supposed to die yet," explained Koenma.

"Why don't you just give them that trial thing you put me through before?" asked Yusuke.

Koenma pressed some buttons on his computer and a huge screen appeared behind him. "Let me show you first what happened the night of the murder two months ago."

A video started playing on the screen. A Mercedes Benz is driving along the expressway. Everything looks normal until the car suddenly swerved to the right and hit the side of a container truck. The car started to skid sideways then flipped several times before it finally came to a stop several meters away. A few moments later the car explodes and burns, surely killing any survivors. Koenma paused the video and turned back to the group.

"Looks like an ordinary drunk driving incident to me," Yusuke commented.

"You'd think that at first but take a look at this," said Koenma as he pressed rewind. He paused the tape just before the car started its deadly spin. "Take a look near the railings. It's dark so the image isn't very clear but you can see a cloaked figure standing there."

The group inched closer to the screen and sure enough there was a silhouette of a man wearing a hood just behind the railing. Koenma said, "Now keep your eye on him as I play the tape in slow motion."

The video started to move and it showed the cloaked form slowly stretching his right arm in front of him. His hand started to glow with spirit energy and as the Mercedes passed in front of him, the car crash began.

"He did something to cause that wreck. Something to the car or to the driver, I don't know yet but he murdered those people. Your mission is to find out who this demon is and why he did this," Koenma explained.

"Who exactly were the people he killed?" said Kurama.

The video was replaced by a picture of a lovely looking couple. The man had deep purple hair and light grey eyes. He had his arms around a beautiful woman with black hair and violet eyes.

_His eyes…I've seen them before,_ thought Kurama.

"These are the people who were in the car. They are husband and wife. Forty year old Yutaka and thirty-seven year old Akemi Aihara."

Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara said in unison, "Aihara?"

Koenma looked at them oddly, "Yes, do you know them?"

Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara looked at each other. Kurama asked, "How do you two know them?"

"Well, there's this new girl at school and her name's Hinoto Aihara. What about you?" asked Yusuke.

Kuwabara drooled and added, "She's really cute, too."

Hiei snorted and said, "That's totally irrelevant, you fool."

Kuwabara glared at Hiei, "What did you say, twerp?"

Kurama interrupted loudly, "Well, there's this new girl at my school too. Her name's Hiroe Aihara. You saw her before we went here, right Hiei?"

Hiei only looked away and grunted.

Koenma clapped his hands and said, "This is great! It only makes this mission easier for you guys. Yutaka and Akemi have two daughters. Fifteen year old Hiroe and fourteen year old Hinoto."

Koenma again pressed a button and a picture of the entire family appeared on the screen. Koenma continued, "Now, when the souls of Yutaka and Akemi were here to be judged, I told them that it wasn't really their time to die yet but since their bodies were destroyed in the crash, I couldn't resurrect them like what I did with Yusuke. Instead, I gave them the option to be reincarnated but they chose not to. They made a request, however, that I find out what really happened to them and to watch over their daughters. Since Yutaka didn't expect to die soon, he didn't get to write a last will and testament so I helped him put one together before I sent them to heaven. The Aiharas were rich so it was important that they have one and since their daughters are still minors, they needed a guardian. Yutaka asked me to name his best friend, Atty. Haruo Ninomiya, their guardian until Hiroe becomes of age and takes over."

Koenma paused as he looked through some folders on his desk. "Now, I've asked my people to look into this matter but they couldn't come up with anything significant. They've also told me that the eldest daughter, Hiroe, has refused to live with the Ninomiyas for personal reasons and the two sisters are now living on their own so Yutaka and I arranged for them to live near you guys, just in case I needed to have you watch over them. It's really lucky that they also decided to switch schools since I had thought they would go back to their old one. I'm not convinced that the threat is over and I have a feeling that all this has something to do with one, maybe both, of them."

"What makes you say that, Koenma? This could be just some sick demon's idea of a good time or something," said Yusuke.

"I had considered that but I wanted to make sure I'd looked into everything because I promised Yutaka I'd look into it. I tried looking for the files of Hiroe and Hinoto just to rule out the possibility that Yutaka and Akemi were killed to get to the daughters and I found something unusual. Hiroe and Hinoto's files are classified. Only my father, Enma-sama, has access to them. This only strengthened my suspicion that there's something more to this," said Koenma.

"It certainly is strange. Did you ask the parents if they remember anything from the night they were murdered? Or if they know of anyone who might want to harm their daughters?" asked Kurama thoughtfully.

"Well I did ask Yutaka if he can tell me exactly what he remembers before the crash. He said he remembered driving a little over the speed limit because it was late and he wanted to get home sooner. Then he remembered that he suddenly saw the ramp they were supposed to exit on so he swerved because he said he almost missed it. This got me a little confused because as you saw earlier, they were in the middle of the expressway and certainly nowhere near an exit."

"An illusion demon," Hiei suddenly said.

"Yes, I was thinking along the same lines too. It's possible that the cloaked figure created an illusion of the exit," said Koenma.

"So what exactly is it you want us to do?" asked Yusuke.

"I can't find out anything more on my end so I want you to do some investigating on your own. Since you and Kuwabara go to the same school as Hinoto, I also want you to keep an eye on her, see if anything strange happens. Same goes for you, Kurama, Hiei. Keep an eye on Hiroe. The demon may be after either one of them," answered Koenma.

The four nodded their heads.

"That's all, you may go. Good luck. By the way, be as discreet as you can. As much as possible, I don't want to alert the sisters and the demon about this," added Koenma.

The four stood up and nodded again. "We'll let you know right away if anything comes up," Yusuke said. They headed towards the door and left.

* * *

"Hinoto, you home yet?" Hiroe called out as she entered the front door. No one answered so Hiroe went up to her room. She changed out of her uniform and grabbed a red notebook from her table. She lifted her mattress and a katana with a red sheath lay underneath it. She got that too and headed to the kitchen. She hastily scribbled a note on the magnetic whiteboard on the fridge.

**Hinoto, went exploring in the woods. Hopefully be back by dinner - Hiroe**

She grabbed a bag of cookies from the cupboard then walked to the woods behind their house. She'd been walking for about twenty minutes when she came upon a clearing. In the middle of it was a stream that gurgled happily. Hiroe smiled and said, "This is perfect. I wonder what new friends I'll make here."

She sat down under a nearby tree and leaned against the trunk. She set her katana down beside her then opened her notebook. The inside looked more like a scrapbook for it was filled with drawings, poems, quotes, stories and other things. Hiroe's eyes softened as she looked at the last page where she had drawn her parents with angel wings. She tried to think of a subject for her next drawing, poem or story. An image of Shuuichi Minamino's flowing red hair and piercing emerald eyes popped into her head almost immediately. She laughed to herself and thought, _I have _got_ to get over this stupid obsession with Shuuichi._

She started to draw him anyway, and kept an image of him laughing at her, the wind softly blowing his hair around. She immersed herself in her sketching, almost forgetting where she was, but she made sure to keep herself aware of her surroundings. Three hours had flown by when she finally set her pencil down and observed her handiwork.

_It doesn't quite do him justice. I guess I'll just have to fix it some other time. I better get back home_, she thought.

She was about to stand up when she spotted a deer peeking out from behind a tree several steps to her right. "Well, hello there. Why don't you come closer? I promise I'm not going to hurt you," she said.

The deer seemed to understand her but looked warily at Hiroe's katana. Hiroe saw this and chuckled, "Are you afraid of my katana? Don't worry, I only brought it along for protection. I didn't come to hunt."

The deer approached without hesitation. Hiroe grinned and said, "I was hoping to meet a new friend today. Do you want some cookies?"

The deer nudged Hiroe's hand which made her laugh, "All right, all right. Aren't you demanding. I think I'll call you Jun, if that's all right with you." Her reply was a soft puff of breath on her palm.

Hiroe and Jun spent the next couple of hours together just getting acquainted. It had gotten pretty dark so Hiroe stood up and picked up her things.

"I hope I'll see you again tomorrow, Jun. I have to get home now. Bye!" she called out. Jun stared after her as she disappeared from sight.

* * *

A short distance away from where Hiroe and Jun were sitting, Hiei stood watching. _Her spirit energy is off the charts. I couldn't sense it when she was with Kurama but now it's just emanating from her. She's probably concealing her power and she's doing a good job of it. Added to that, she can communicate with animals. I wonder what other things she hides from the world, _he thought.

He silently followed as Hiroe went back to her house and continued to watch her through the windows. His mind went back to Hiroe as he thought, _I don't trust her. Kurama's right, there's something about her. I can tell that he's attracted to her, I'd have to be blind not to see it. That "making friends" crap is just his way of finding an excuse to get close to her. Hn. I guess it's up to me to watch them closely._

* * *

Kurama sighed as he lay on his bed. It was agreed among the four of them that Hiei would be in charge of watching the sisters during the night while Kurama, Yusuke and Kuwabara would each keep guard during the day at school.

His brow furrowed as he recalled his earlier conversation with Hiei.

"_What's with you and that human?"_

"_You mean Hiroe?" asked Kurama._

_Hiei nodded and Kurama shrugged, "I don't know what you're talking about. I just made friends with her, that's all."_

_Hiei raised his eyebrow and said, "That didn't look like just making friends to me. You don't usually of out of your way to socialize because of what we do and who we are. What are you doing, Kurama?"_

_Kurama looked away and replied, "It's not that big a deal, Hiei."_

_Hiei turned his back on Kurama and said, "Hn. Suit yourself. It's none of my business anyway. Just remember what happened with that Maya Kitajima girl you used to be friends with."_

Kurama sat up and sighed yet again. _Being on a mission which concerns Hiroe complicates matters but it doesn't change the fact that I'm probably becoming much too involved with her. I know it's only been a day and I'm probably overreacting but then again I've never really acted like this with anyone at school before, except with Maya. At least on my part, I have to admit that there's something about Hiroe that just draws me to her and I can't seem to just ignore it. But what if she finds out about me being a demon? I don't want to have to involve her in the kind of life I live, it's just too dangerous. And it's for her own good. If people find out she means something to me, she'll become a target. I don't want to have to erase another person's memory, just like what I did with Maya. Or maybe my real dilemma is that I want her to find out I'm a demon. My feelings for Maya are so different from what I feel for Hiroe. Ugh, it's all so confusing! And dammit, I'm probably thinking too much into things again and worrying about stuff I shouldn't. God, I'm giving myself a headache._

Kurama raised his hand to rub his temple. _Right now, I just need to concentrate on finding out what really happened to her parents and if it has anything to do with Hiroe or her sister. Just focus on the mission and stop focusing on just _herhe mentally resolved.

He nodded his head, like that settled everything, and went to sleep.

As if to spite himself, he dreamed about her.

* * *

**A/N: **Is there such a thing as a classified file in the Reikai? Well, now there is. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER FOUR**

The next morning, Kurama awoke to a soft tapping on his window. He rubbed his eyes sleepily and looked outside. When he saw that Hiei was the one doing the tapping, he was instantly awake and rushed to the window to let Hiei inside.

"Is anything wrong?" Kurama asked urgently.

Hiei simply snorted and said, "Nothing's wrong, you dolt. Did you think I'd let anything happen to your precious Hiroe?"

Kurama's face turned red, both in embarrassment and in slight anger, "I was just asking, geez. It's not like you normally go hanging outside my window without reason. So what did you wake me up for anyway?"

"For one thing, you're already running late for school. Hiroe's been waiting for you for five minutes on that spot where you bumped into each other yesterday."

Kurama quickly glanced at his alarm clock and realized that he was so preoccupied with his thoughts last night he had forgotten to set his alarm before he went to sleep. "Oh, shit!" he exclaimed and hurriedly got ready.

Hiei crossed his arms over his chest and watched Kurama. "I don't trust her."

"You don't have to trust her. It's not part of the mission. All you have to do is find out who killed her parents and why," said Kurama impassively.

Hiei raised his eyebrow at this and said, "Aren't you even going to ask why?"

"Normally I would but it just occurred to me since our conversation yesterday that you seem to have something against her personally. Or is it because I'm getting too attached as you pointed out?"

Hiei glared at Kurama. "Don't get all cocky on me, Kurama. You know what I said was right. And yes, I don't understand why _you're_ acting the way you do around her but that doesn't mean _I_ have to get personal about it. What the hell is wrong with you anyway?"

Kurama sighed in frustration. "I don't know. I'm sorry. It's just I've been thinking about what you said last night and now it's got me all messed up. I just don't understand it."

"Hn," was Hiei's only reply.

"So what is it that you wanted to tell me about Hiroe?" asked Kurama.

"It can wait until later. Just go already, you're late enough as it is." Hiei left after that.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," Kurama grumbled to himself as he hurried out the door.

* * *

Hiroe glanced at her watch and thought, _Hmm, he's late. I wonder if he forgot we were going to meet here._

Just as she turned to leave, Kurama was suddenly standing in front of her. She jumped slightly in surprise.

"Geez! Don't scare me like that!" Hiroe exclaimed.

Kurama grinned sheepishly, "Sorry. And sorry I'm late. I forgot to set my alarm last night."

Hiroe laughed and said, "That's all right. I thought you stood me up."

Kurama glanced sideways at Hiroe, "I wouldn't do that to such a pretty girl."

Hiroe's startled gaze flew towards Kurama's face. Then she recovered and quickly said, "You're such a kidder. Come on, let's get going before we're late for class."

As Hiroe walked ahead, Kurama mentally knocked himself on the head. _Idiot! Stop saying things like that! Sheesh, why am I acting so weird?_

Hiroe meanwhile was thinking somewhere along the same lines as Kurama. _Stop feeling giddy, it's not like he meant it. Ugh, why am I acting so weird?_

A short distance away, Hiei looked at the pair and grunted, "Hn."

* * *

Unbeknownst the three of them, two other pairs of eyes were watching them. Satoru and Satoshi looked at each other.

"Now even Hiei Jaganshi is following Hiroe around. Do you think something is going on in the Reikai? Maybe they found out that we're after Hiroe," commented Satoru.

Satoshi shook his head, "I think if they found out we were also watching Hiroe they would have attacked us by now. We should talk to Eiji-sama about this. He would know what's going on."

"But Satoshi, Masahiro would skin us alive if he found out we went to Eiji-sama behind his back. Maybe we should tell him first," said Satoru.

"I'm more afraid of what Eiji-sama would do if he finds out we didn't tell him that the Reikai Tantei have their eyes on Hiroe. We were assigned to go with Masahiro for this reason. We're to keep an eye not just on Hiroe but on Masahiro as well. You know Masahiro isn't really that loyal to Eiji-sama. All he wants is to get Hiroe," Satoshi said.

"Look, maybe we're just being paranoid. Why don't we also check on Hinoto and see if the Reikai Tantei really _are_ guarding the sisters. We haven't seen Urameshi and that ugly guy he's always with. If they're with Hinoto, then something may be up," Satoru suggested.

"OK. But if we see that they are with Hinoto, we're heading straight to Eiji-sama, all right?" replied Satoshi.

"Right. Let's go." Then they were gone.

* * *

Hiei's eyes darted around the area. There was someone else watching them. He sensed it, but the feeling abruptly disappeared.

_Pacifier breath may be right. Someone is still after that girl._

He looked at Kurama and Hiroe and wondered if they also sensed the presence he had felt. Kurama was surrounded by the usual gaggle of girls and Hiroe waited patiently a few feet away, her eyes sparkling with merriment.

Hiei growled low in his throat. _Either Kurama's getting careless or he's doing a damn good job of acting like nothing's out of the ordinary. And that girl is hiding her spirit energy again. Dammit! If Kurama can't sense such strong power coming from her he's more of an idiot about her than I thought._

As if Kurama heard every single word, he suddenly turned to look straight into Hiei's eyes. Kurama motioned his head almost imperceptibly to the woods. Hiei nodded slightly and left.

* * *

After he had gotten away from his fan club and had mumbled an excuse to Hiroe about going to the bathroom, Kurama headed to the woods inside the school's premises. As expected, Hiei was waiting for him, leaning against a tree trunk with his eyes closed and arms crossed over his chest.

"You felt it, didn't you? Two demons. I wasn't even sure at first if there really were two of them because their auras were so identical," Kurama said anxiously.

"Hn. And here I thought you were getting careless but it's just as I expected from you. Yes, I felt them. It was fleeting but I'm sure they were watching us too. We have to assume that whoever is after that girl knows who we are and that we're keeping guard over her," said Hiei.

"What is going on? What could they possibly want?" wondered Kurama.

Hiei opened his eyes and gazed at Kurama. "Like I was trying to tell you this morning, Kurama, that girl is hiding a lot of things from us. That's why I don't trust her."

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you haven't felt her spirit energy."

"Yes, I can sense that she has more spirit energy than some humans do but that's not really unusual, is it?"

Hiei glowered at Kurama and said, "She doesn't just have _more_ spirit energy than _some_ humans, Kurama. She has a whole lot of spirit energy, even more than some _demons_ do. I was trying to tell you this morning. I was watching her last night, in the woods near her house and I saw it just coming out of her unheeded. She _knows_ she has this power and she's concealing it. And she can communicate with animals. Half the time she was in the woods she was talking to a deer. She even named the damn thing Jun! That girl is dangerous, Kurama. Who knows what other powers she's hiding from us? You don't know what she's capable of."

"She might not even be aware of those things herself, Hiei. You're right I don't know what she's capable of. None of us do. That's why we have to watch her all the more. This is the best lead we have. Heck, it's the only lead we have," argued Kurama.

"Oh, she's aware of it. Like I said, she's suppressing her powers. Skillfully, might I add. All I'm saying is that we also have to be careful, especially you. Not just of the enemy but of her. You're getting more and more attached to her. I'd have to be stupid and blind not to know that you feel something for her that's more than what's required of this mission. And don't bother denying it either, I'm sure you must have realized it too, smart as you are."

Kurama scowled but acknowledged what Hiei was telling him. "I'm not going to deny anything. You're right. The reason why I'm acting so weird around Hiroe is most likely because I'm attracted to her. But I'm not foolish enough to let it get in the way of what I'm supposed to do."

"Just make sure it doesn't. I've never seen you act like this before and frankly I'm worried about it."

Kurama smiled wryly at this. "It's not like you to worry about anything, least of all about me. However, I do know what's expected of me. And I have no intention of pursuing anything with Hiroe so stop thinking about it already."

Hiei's only response was "Hn" before he turned away and left.

Kurama started walking back to class. _Hiei's right. Perhaps I've just been trying to delude myself into thinking otherwise but he's forced me to admit that I am attracted to Hiroe. Very much so. Now that I've owned up to the fact, I should at least try to do something about it. Whether or not it's for the mission, these feelings just cannot be entertained. I probably like her more than I should…but she will never know._

* * *

Hiroe watched Kurama's retreating back. _Hmm, isn't the bathroom this way though? _

Hiroe shrugged and started walking to class when Michiyo blocked her path. Hiroe smiled in greeting. "Good morning, Nakashima-san."

Michiyo laughed maliciously and Hiroe arched her brow. "You're a good actress, all right. I'll give you credit for that. But you're not good enough to fool me," Michiyo said.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Nakashima-san," cautiously said Hiroe.

"Don't you now. That's just rich. You may have hoodwinked Shuuichi-kun into thinking you're this nice person but I'm not blind. I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to steal him away from me," accused Michiyo.

"I wasn't aware that he was anyone's property, Nakashima-san," said Hiroe slowly.

"I'm warning you, bitch. Stay away from Shuuichi-kun," hissed Michiyo. After one last contemptuous look at Hiroe, she stalked away.

Hiroe exhaled noisily and resumed walking to her classroom. _Great. My second day at school and already it's like this. What did I do to deserve this?_

* * *

Satoru and Satoshi bowed before a figure sitting on a throne.

"What has Masahiro done now?" asked the man tiredly.

Satoru and Satoshi looked at each other before Satoru spoke up, "Eiji-sama, the reason why we're here isn't because of Masahiro."

"Well then, what is it?" asked Eiji, brushing his brown bangs away from his brown eyes.

"This better be important," warned a voice from behind the throne. From the shadows, another man emerged.

"Eiji-sama, we noticed that the sisters are being followed closely by the Reikai Tantei. Urameshi and Kuwabara are always with Hinoto while Youko Kurama and Hiei are with Hiroe. We wondered if you knew anything about this," reported Satoshi.

Eiji raised his eyebrow and turned to the man beside him, "Ichiro, have there been any new cases in the Reikai involving the sisters?"

Ichiro nodded and said, "We just found out that Koenma ordered an investigation on the deaths of Yutaka and Akemi Aihara. Those four have been assigned to watch the sisters closely and find out who was behind the murders."

Eiji growled low in his throat. "That Masahiro is starting to get on my nerves. I've been avoiding the involvement of the Reikai Tantei regarding the sisters, especially that Youko Kurama."

"Sir, what are your orders?" Satoru asked.

"Tell Masahiro about the investigation. Whatever his plans are, he'd better implement them right away. I want you two to make sure Hiroe remains alive," Eiji said.

"What of Hinoto?" Satoshi inquired.

"Let Masahiro do what he wants. Killing her would be better," replied Eiji.

The twins bowed again and left to do Eiji's bidding. When they were out of sight, Ichiro turned to Eiji and asked, "Why do you want to keep Hiroe alive, Eiji?"

Eiji's face remained dispassionate as he said, "Because I'll be the one to kill her."

* * *

**A/N:** More new characters to confuse you. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Masahiro Fukazawa frowned as one of the twins, he assumed it was Satoshi, related what Eiji had told them. Frankly, he hated being ordered around. That was the exact reason why he had killed his own parents. Masahiro despised being under anyone's control and the only reason why he had allied himself with Eiji was because Eiji had promised him Hiroe.

The very first time Masahiro saw Hiroe was about a year ago. She had been practicing with her katana in the woods behind their mansion. He had trespassed on their grounds when he sensed her spirit energy and had wanted to find its source. The second he laid eyes on her, he knew that he wanted nothing else. He spent months following her around but he never came near her. He wanted everything to be perfect before he did that, meaning nothing would get in his way.

That was when he was approached by Eiji. He claimed to know everything about Hiroe, even things about her that Hiroe herself didn't know about. Masahiro was initially suspicious but was also curious so he followed Eiji. It was a good thing he did, too. Eiji told Masahiro a lot of things that he doubted he would have found out on his own. However, the information didn't come without a price and that was how he came to be under Eiji's command.

If he thought about it though, Eiji never actually told him what to do until now. When Masahiro killed Hiroe's parents, Eiji never stopped him. He supposed that it was those Reikai Tantei that was making Eiji nervous, plus the fact that Youko Kurama was now involved in Hiroe's life. And, knowing what he did, he had to admit even he felt a bit worried.

He sighed. He hated to admit it but Eiji was right. He had to move up the timeline for his plans. Then again, it wasn't like he was given a choice. He held up his right hand, interrupting Satoshi's narrative.

"I don't need to hear all the details. Nothing changes except for the schedule. Make sure everything is ready," stated Masahiro calmly.

The twins bowed and said in unison, "As you wish."

* * *

Hiroe slumped down on one of the many available chairs in the library of Meiou Senior High School. It had been a week since she started school and already she was wishing the school year was over.

It wasn't so much that she hated studying. In fact, she was doing fairly well in her classes despite her not having attended school for two months prior. Her social life, however, was a different story. The female half of the school's population seemed to have taken it upon them to make her school life miserable. In fact, she hadn't made any new friends at all save for Shuuichi.

_Nakashima-san and the other girls have been on my case the whole week_, thought Hiroe tiredly as she crossed her arms on the table and buried her head in them. _I don't understand it. Shuuichi behaves toward us all the same way. It's not like I'm getting special treatment or anything. Why the heck is she so mad at me?_

"You know, the library isn't a place for you to sleep, Aihara-san," a male voice quietly commented in front of her.

Hiroe jumped at the sound, snapping her from her thoughts. She turned to the source of the voice and saw that it was one of her classmates.

"You're Yuu Kaito, aren't you?" asked Hiroe.

Kaito pushed his glasses up his nose and replied, "Yes. I'm surprised you know me, Aihara-san."

"It's hard not to know one of the top students in our class. And I've read some of the journals you've published. You're quite the genius, I've heard. Won't you join me?" said Hiroe, gesturing to the seat across from her.

Kaito raised an eyebrow but accepted the offer anyway. As he took his seat, Hiroe said conversationally, "I hope you don't think it's too forward of me. It's just that this school is driving me crazy!"

"I take it you're referring to Nakashima-san."

Hiroe shot a surprised look at Kaito. "How did you…"

"It's pretty big news around school, you know. Kura… I mean, Minamino is known to be a loner even though he's so popular with the ladies. Everyone's wondering what you have that drew him to you," related Kaito.

Hiroe sighed and brushed her hair back agitatedly. "That's just it, Kaito-san. There's nothing special about me. It just so happened that he was the first person I met ever since I moved here."

"I sincerely doubt that."

Hiroe gazed shrewdly at Kaito. "Why are you telling me this?"

Kaito shrugged. "I don't particularly know myself. I guess you could say I sympathize with you."

Hiroe was silent for a moment then groaned. "I don't know what to do, Kaito-san. You probably think it's silly. I don't really mind not having a lot of friends. I just don't want trouble, you know what I mean?"

"I don't blame you. Not many people, boys and girls alike, do anything to oppose Nakashima-san. Most are afraid of her, what with her being a total bitch and all," said Kaito airily.

Hiroe cast a surprised glance at Kaito. "I never took you for someone who can say something like that about another person."

"You don't know me at all, Aihara-san. I apologize, but I simply dislike her. She's the type to get vicious if things don't go her way. Who likes those kinds of people?"

"I'm beginning to understand why she hates me so much. I guess it never occurred to me that there are people who would stop at nothing to get what they want. She wants Shuuichi and I'm in her way, right?"

"Being close friends with the most popular guy in school comes with a price, and this must be it. Why don't you just talk to Minamino about this if it bothers you so much?"

Hiroe adamantly shook her head. "Oh no. It's just going to sound like I'm complaining."

"Well you are," said Kaito amusedly.

Hiroe let out an embarrassed laugh. "That may be true. But still, I don't think I should trouble him with something so trivial. Besides, it's not like there's anything he can do about it. I can't just tell him, 'Hey Shuuichi, could you stop being the hottest thing on two legs so the girls at school will stop bullying me?', now can I?"

Kaito laughed. "Good point. But seriously, are they really bullying you? I thought Nakashima-san just told all the girls to ignore you or something like that."

Hiroe shifted uncomfortably under Kaito's piercing stare. _Maybe I said too much? Should I tell him?_

Kaito leaned back on his chair, sensing Hiroe's hesitation. "You don't have to tell me anything, Aihara-san. But if you do, I can promise you that it'll be just between the two of us."

Hiroe smiled apologetically and said, "Sorry, Kaito-san, to be unloading all of this on you. Listen to me, we only just met and already I'm burdening you with my problems."

"It's not like I mind. Any friend of Minamino is a friend of mine."

"Really? You two seem more like rivals to me."

Kaito grinned. "We are rivals. But a lot of things happened in the past that overshadowed that rivalry."

This got Hiroe curious. "Such as?"

Kaito winked. "That's guy talk. Maybe someday one of us will tell you." Inwardly, he thought, _Someday when you've discovered Kurama's true identity. _He continued, "Besides, that's not the issue here. Look, you don't have to tell me the details but if Nakashima-san's crossing the line, you have to tell someone. You can't just let them bully you."

Hiroe frowned, remembering the things that have happened the past week. "I'll tell you, but you have to swear not to tell anyone, especially Shuuichi."

Kaito adjusted his glasses yet again, wondering if it was a promise he can keep. Finally, he said, "All right. But I have a condition of my own. You promise to tell me everything they do from now on and if I see that you can't handle it anymore on your own, you'll go talk to Minamino."

Hiroe nodded, "OK. It started three days ago, on my third day here…"

* * *

_Three days ago_

Hiroe stretched her arms over her head and sighed gratefully as the dismissal bell rang. Kurama walked over to her desk and asked, "Ready to go?"

Hiroe smiled and answered, "Yeah. I just need to go to the ladies' room."

"OK. I'll wait for you at the gate."

The pair stepped out of the classroom and went to opposite directions. Hiroe hummed an upbeat tune as she went inside the girls' bathroom. She entered one of the cubicles, surprised to see the normally crowded bathroom empty for once.

When she was done, she opened the cubicle door. That was when two pairs of hands grabbed each of her arms. Before she could even react, she was doused with ice cold water. Hiroe shut her eyes and sputtered, caught unprepared by the sudden torrent. She heard laughter as the hands that restrained her then shoved her towards the row of pedestal sinks. She held up her hands in front of her, bracing for the impact.

Keeping one hand gripping the sink, Hiroe used her other hand to wipe the water off her face. She opened her eyes, looked at the mirror, and saw Michiyo and four other girls behind her. Michiyo was smiling smugly, holding an empty bucket.

"That," Michiyo said cruelly, "serves as your wake up call."

One of the girls walked over to stand beside Hiroe. She jabbed her finger at Hiroe's temple and said, "Get this message in your head. Leave Shuuichi-sama alone."

Hiroe bent her head and stared sightlessly at the sink. _Why are these girls so intent on ruining my friendship with Shuuichi?_ she thought angrily.

Her hands tightened around the porcelain edges of the sink. Suddenly, the porcelain broke and gave way, bits and pieces grounding in her hands. The other girls gasped in surprise. They all looked uneasily at Hiroe then at Michiyo.

Michiyo merely sniffed and said, "This school is falling apart. Come on, girls. I think she got the point."

The other girls departed, leaving Hiroe standing there. Hiroe struggled to get her emotions under control. She lifted her hands up in front of her and saw that some of the sharp porcelain had dug into her skin, causing them to bleed. Somehow, seeing the blood made her fury disappear. She trudged to the door, her shoes squishing as she moved.

When she finally made it outside, Kurama exclaimed upon seeing her, "Hiroe! What happened? And your hands are bleeding!"

"The sink broke," explained Hiroe lamely.

Kurama waited for Hiroe to elaborate but she refused to say anything more. He sighed then started to remove his shirt. Hiroe looked at him in surprise and asked, "What are you doing?"

"You must be freezing," he replied as he draped the pink uniform on her shoulders. "Come on, let's do something about those wounds, OK?"

"Thanks," mumbled Hiroe.

* * *

"And every day since then, Nakashima-san and the others have been doing all sorts of stuff. The other day, when I was changing out of my school slippers, I saw that there were thumbtacks in my shoes. Then yesterday, I wasn't able to attend our gym class because my gym shorts were ripped. Then today, there was bubble gum on my chair," said Hiroe. She lifted the stained part of her skirt to show Kaito.

"That's never coming off," chuckled Kaito.

"Oh, thank you so much for stating the obvious," said Hiroe sarcastically.

"Sorry. But seriously, you really should tell someone else about this. Maybe you can talk to one of our teachers or something."

"No. It's not as if I can't handle it," shrugged Hiroe.

"I must say I'm impressed. Does Minamino mean that much to you?" asked Kaito slyly.

Hiroe blushed and said defensively, "Of course. But not in the way you're implying. I'm just the type of person who values friends and something this silly isn't enough to scare me away from being friends with Shuuichi."

"Speaking of which, here he comes," said Kaito, pointing behind Hiroe.

Hiroe turned to the direction Kaito had indicated. She muttered under her breath, "Remember, not a word."

Kaito smirked but remained silent.

When Kurama reached their table, he gave Kaito a slight nod of his head. To Hiroe, he said softly, "Sorry I took so long. I see you've met Kaito."

Hiroe smiled up at him and replied, "Yeah, we were just getting to know each other. I didn't know you two were friends."

Kurama cast an inquiring look at Kaito, as if to ask whether Kaito told Hiroe anything about Kurama being a demon. Kaito gave a slight shake of his head. "Seems Aihara-san had an eventful week, Minamino. She was telling me all about it."

Hiroe gave Kaito a quick glare, to which he grinned. Kurama noted the exchange and curiously asked, "Why? Did something happen, Hiroe?"

Hiroe hastily shook her head and said, "Oh, it's nothing. I was just having trouble with, uhh, math problems! Yeah."

Kurama looked back at Kaito who shrugged. Deciding it was best to let the matter drop for now, Kurama replied, "I'll be glad to help you with those once we get to your place. Are we still on for that study session?"

"Of course. Let's just pass by the grocery so I can buy something to cook for dinner. Shall we go?"

"All right. See you around, Kaito."

"It was nice meeting you, Kaito-san. See you around," waved Hiroe.

Hiroe turned to leave but Kurama gave Kaito one last lingering look. Kaito nodded, knowing what Kurama was asking of him. Satisfied, Kurama hurried to catch up with Hiroe.

* * *

"Hey, Keiko-chan, you guys want to come over to my place? It's the weekend and my sister Hiroe normally bakes these ultra yummy cakes," said Hinoto enthusiastically.

Keiko turned to look at Yusuke. "What do you say, Yusuke?"

"I'm in! I'm not about to turn down free cake!" said Kuwabara.

"Right you are, Kuwabara. If it's free, I'm there!" laughed Yusuke.

"Great! Come on, Keiko-chan!" said Hinoto gleefully, pulling Keiko ahead.

Yusuke and Kuwabara stayed back for a bit. "This is a good opportunity. Maybe we can search for clues at their house," said Yusuke.

"Yeah. I've been feeling uneasy ever since Kurama told me about those two demons he felt while he was with Hiroe," commented Kuwabara.

"And I felt those same demons watching Hinoto too. Something's definitely up with these sisters," agreed Yusuke.

"Hinoto!" screeched Keiko.

Yusuke and Kuwabara immediately turned their attention back to the two girls in front of them. Hinoto clutched her head with both hands, her face scrunched in pain. She collapsed to her knees just as Yusuke and Kuwabara caught up to them.

"What happened, Keiko?" asked Yusuke urgently.

"I don't know!" Keiko replied in a panicky voice. "One minute she was fine and then she just started hurting like that."

"So much blood…twins…red hair…," gasped out Hinoto.

"Could she be talking about Kurama?" inquired Kuwabara.

"But Kurama doesn't have a twin. Oi, Hinoto! What are you talking about?" demanded Yusuke.

Slowly, Hinoto lowered her hands, her face pale. "We've got to get home. I have to talk to Hiroe. But I'm too weak to move."

Yusuke lifted Hinoto and carried her on piggy back. "Just tell me where to go."

Hinoto appreciatively sank into Yusuke as she pointed towards the direction of her house. Yusuke nodded and then they all ran. Upon reaching the house, Kuwabara fumbled with the lock but finally got the door open. Yusuke went to the living room and set Hinoto down on the couch.

Before Yusuke can ask Hinoto what happened, Hiroe burst through the door with Kurama trailing shortly behind her. "Hinoto! What happened? We saw you enter the house."

Hinoto's breath caught in her throat. She pointed at Kurama and said, "It's you!"

* * *

**A/N:** Finally finished this chapter! Hope you guys enjoy it! To anyone who'll be wondering, this story is set after the Sensui arc. Therefore, this story assumes that nothing happened after that. Anyway, just a brief clarification. Please do leave a review just to let me know what you think. Thanks to duckichan87 for leaving my first review. I appreciate it!

Also, Initial D fans should check out my other story, It's Never Too Late. Yeah, yeah, shameless plug.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER SIX**

All eyes turned to Kurama who calmly stood beside Hiroe. Hiroe snapped her gaze back to her sister and said, "You had a vision about Shuuichi?"

Hinoto nodded weakly, "Yes. Oh, Hiroe, it was horrible!"

"Wait. What vision? What are you talking about?" exclaimed Kuwabara.

"Yeah. What the hell's going on?" asked Yusuke.

"We'll explain later. Right now, I need to know what you saw, Hinoto," said Hiroe urgently.

Hinoto licked her lips and answered, "It wasn't too detailed. I saw you and you were running. I couldn't see clearly but it was apparent that you were running towards him," she pointed to Kurama, "because you kept shouting 'Shuuichi!'. Your hands and clothes were covered in blood. Then I saw these twin guys with bluish, greenish hair and Shuuichi was fighting the two of them alone. Hiroe, who is he? _What_ are they?"

"What do you mean, 'what'?" asked Hiroe.

"Shuuichi, the twins. They look human but I could feel that they weren't. The twins were powerful and Shuuichi was keeping them at bay easily with this thorny whip," related Hinoto.

"They must be the demons who were watching them, Urameshi!" burst out Kuwabara.

Hiroe fixed her eyes sharply on Kuwabara, "What demons? Who are you people?"

Yusuke slapped a hand to his forehead. "Why'd you go and blurt out something like that, you idiot!" he shouted at Kuwabara.

Kuwabara opened his mouth to say something back but he was interrupted by Kurama who held up his hand for silence and said, "No sense arguing about it now, Kuwabara-kun, Yusuke. We'd better call Botan and Hiei. Seems we have a lot to talk about."

Hiroe's surprised gaze flew back to Kurama. Hinoto looked equally shocked and asked, "Botan-chan? You mean you guys all know each other?"

"Who are you, Shuuichi?" whispered Hiroe.

"We'll talk when everyone's here," stated Kurama firmly.

* * *

An hour later, everyone had arrived. Yusuke and Keiko sat beside each other on the couch followed by Botan and Kuwabara. Hiei situated himself on a nearby wall while Kurama, Hiroe and Hinoto sat on the floor. It seemed that nobody was willing to start speaking so Hiroe took the initiative.

"Shuuichi, if that is who you really are, could you tell me what's going on? Who are you people?"

Kurama took a deep breath then began to explain, "Hiroe, I really am Shuuichi Minamino. These people are my friends. I know you're going to find this strange but Yusuke is a Reikai Tantei."

"Reikai Tantei? What's that?" asked Hinoto, turning to Yusuke.

"To keep it in simple terms, Earth is divided into three separate worlds: the Reikai, the Ningenkai and the Makai. Basically the Reikai makes sure that demons from the Makai don't get into the Ningenkai, and at the same time manage the souls of the dead. Yusuke's job is to capture any stray demons that wander into this world and to do some investigative work for us," said Botan.

"Us? So you're from the Reikai?" inquired Hiroe.

"Yes. I'm a ferry girl from Reikai. My job is to lead the souls of the dead to the afterlife. I'm also the one who reports to Koenma-sama and relays mission details to Yusuke."

"I assume that this Koenma is Enma's son, right?" said Hiroe.

Botan was taken aback by this and said, "How did you know that?"

"It's pretty obvious, isn't it? I take it, then, that you're on a mission which involves us," deduced Hiroe.

"Yes, we are," answered Yusuke.

"Before I ask what your mission is, I want to know what Shuuichi and the others have to do with this. You're the only Reikai Tantei, aren't you?" pointed out Hiroe.

"Well, Keiko has nothing to do with it but she is aware that I am a Reikai Tantei. Kuwabara is just someone who can't mind his own business," started Yusuke.

"Hey! Take that back!" screamed Kuwabara indignantly.

"Keep it down, will you? I'm talking here!" shouted Yusuke. "Hiei and Kura…"

Yusuke paused when he felt Kurama's intense gaze on him. He coughed lightly. "Hiei and Minamino are simply here because they both owe a debt to the Reikai."

"A debt, you say? What's that about, Shuuichi?" Hiroe asked, turning to Kurama.

"Hiei and I stole items from Reikai's vault some time ago. As punishment, we're to assist Yusuke on his missions. And I consider Yusuke as a friend so I help whenever I can," replied Kurama.

"That must mean you're not ordinary humans," commented Hiroe.

"No, I guess not. Yusuke is half-demon, half-human. Kuwabara-kun is a human but he has very high spiritual energy. Hiei is a demon," shared Kurama.

"What about you?" asked Hinoto.

"I'm just a human who can control plants," Kurama lied easily.

Yusuke and the others turned confused glances at each other but didn't say anything.

"Now that we got that out of the way, why are you here? What's your mission?" queried Hiroe.

"We were sent here to investigate your parents' murder and to capture the demon responsible for it," responded Yusuke.

Hiroe exchanged glances with Hinoto.

"You don't seem surprised by that knowledge. It was reported as a car accident, wasn't it?" asked Botan.

Hiei, who had been silent the entire time, sensed a mental link being established between the sisters. Giving no indication that he knew what was happening, he listened in on the voiceless conversation.

_I knew it. Your vision was right after all. Someone did murder our parents. What do you think? Can we trust them?_ thought Hiroe.

_Why don't you just read their minds and find out if they're telling the truth?_ replied Hinoto internally.

_You know I hate doing that. Besides, if they wanted to kill us, they could have done so earlier._

_I trust your intuition, Hiroe. Whatever you want to do, I'll back you up._

Out loud, Hiroe said, "Hinoto had a vision shortly before our parents' deaths. In that vision, she saw a man with black hair and blue eyes projecting an illusion of the expressway exit my parents were supposed to take to get home. The image was cast right beside a truck. My dad swerved into the truck, causing the crash."

Shocked faces turned to Hinoto. Kuwabara said in amazement, "Your vision is more accurate than the video we watched. In the video, the demon was cloaked and we couldn't see his face at all. And we couldn't see the image of the exit."

"Ever since I was little," began Hinoto, "I've had these visions of things to come. Sometimes I even get to see things that happened in a person's past when I come in contact with them, but only if it's a particularly traumatic event that the person hasn't forgotten. Every time I get these visions, I become weak and my head feels like it's splitting open."

"Do your visions tell you the time when an event will happen?" wondered Kurama.

Hinoto shook her head. "No. The things I see normally occur within days to minutes of me envisioning it, though."

Hiroe curled her hands into fists. "I warned them, but they wouldn't listen to me. They said it was probably just a bad dream. They didn't know that Hinoto could see the future. I tried to stop them but I was too late. That's why I swore I would find the one responsible for this."

Without so much as a warning, Hiei unsheathed his katana and attacked Hiroe. Before anyone could react, Hiroe raised her hand in front of her.

"What the…" muttered Hiei.

"Hiei! What do you think you're doing?" said Kurama apprehensively.

"It's fine, Shuuichi. I got it under control," said Hiroe serenely.

That was when everyone noticed that Hiei was struggling to bring the katana down on Hiroe but the katana simply refused to budge. Hiroe gave a slight wave of her hand and the katana flew out of Hiei's grasp and impaled itself into the wall.

"I felt you, Hiei. You were eavesdropping on my mental talk with my sister just now. I slipped into your mind without you knowing that's why I knew you would attack me," said Hiroe.

"Hn," snorted Hiei. "The only reason you were able to enter my mind at all was because I let you, woman. So what other powers have you been hiding?"

"Ah, so that was you watching me every time I was with Jun."

Kuwabara looked back and forth between Hiroe and Hiei, utterly confused. "Who's Jun? Can somebody please explain what just happened?"

"It would appear as if Hiroe knew that Hiei's been keeping an eye on them this whole time," said Kurama.

"That's right. To answer your question, Hiei, I'm psychokinetic. I can move and modify things without laying a hand on them. And as you saw, I can communicate with animals. Kuwabara, Jun is a deer. I met him in the woods and I've been talking to him everyday since we moved here. And yes, Botan, I'm a mind reader as well. I can talk to you using only my mind and I can hear what you're thinking," Hiroe smiled towards Botan.

Botan clapped her hands over her mouth in surprise. Everyone looked slightly wary at Hiroe. Hiroe just laughed and said, "Don't worry, I just opened my mind to hearing all your thoughts. I'm not digging into your brains."

"But you could," stated Kurama.

"If I choose to, yes," agreed Hiroe. "But I never do unless I'm given permission. It's disrespectful and I wouldn't want others to do it to me as well."

She glared pointedly at Hiei after uttering those words. Kurama sighed, "Hiei, stop it. You're making us look like the bad guys here."

"Hn," sniffed Hiei yet again. He then made his way over to his katana, roughly pulling it off the wall and sheathing it.

"So what's the plan now?" asked Yusuke. "We weren't supposed to let you know about any of this until we were sure of everything."

"Hiroe, do you know of anyone who might want to do this to you? Or maybe you recognized the illusion demon, Hinoto?" questioned Kurama.

Both sisters shook their heads. Kurama folded his arms over his chest and said thoughtfully, "OK, here's what we'll do. Botan, you go back to the Reikai and report everything that we talked about here to Koenma then ask him for a plan of action."

"Right," said Botan in her usual cheery manner.

"In the meantime, nothing changes. Yusuke and Kuwabara-kun will still keep watch over Hinoto at school, I'll still stay with Hiroe at school as well and Hiei will stand guard at night. Until we know what these demons are after, we have to assume the worst," continued Kurama.

"All right," said Hiroe. "If that's the case then Hiei can stay in the house. No sense in letting him remain outside, is there?"

"Great!" said Hinoto happily. "Now that that's settled, can we eat? I'm starving! And I promised Keiko-chan and the others some cake!"

Everybody except Hiei laughed. Hiroe stood up and said, "I better head back to the grocery since I didn't expect to have so many guests tonight. Hinoto, go and get some juice for everyone. I'll be back real quick."

"I'll come with you," said Kurama.

* * *

Kurama and Hiroe walked side by side, neither one saying a word. Each was immersed in their own thoughts.

"Shuuichi," Hiroe finally said. "There's something that's bothering me and I need a straight answer from you."

"What is it?" asked Kurama.

"Was everything just business to you?"

"What do you mean?"

"I meant our friendship. Was our first meeting intentional? Is the reason why you're friends with me because of your mission?"

The pair stopped walking. Hiroe looked at Kurama dejectedly and Kurama had the sudden impulse to pull her into his arms. "When I was talking to Kaito-san earlier, he mentioned something about the gossip circulating around school. Apparently everyone's wondering why you chose to be friends with me. Kaito-san told me that you mostly kept to yourself. Is the mission the reason why?"

Kurama shook his head. "Hiroe, our first meeting wasn't planned, and so is our friendship. Things just became a bit complicated for me since the mission involves you but you have to believe me when I say that I truly think of you as a friend."

Hiroe's light grey eyes stared deep into Kurama's green ones, as if she was trying to find her answer there. Kurama stared back, mesmerized by the intensity in her eyes. They both took a step closer to each other unconsciously, lost in the other's gaze.

Kurama's right hand moved of its own accord towards the side of her face, brushing back a strand of purple hair that framed her face softly. Hiroe closed her eyes and leaned into the touch, yearning for more.

"So beautiful…" he whispered gently.

Hiroe let out a small gasp then opened her eyes to look at Kurama once again. Her eyes fell on his lips and his lowered to hers. Slowly, Kurama bent forward, closing the gap between them.

Suddenly, a dog started barking behind them. Startled by the sound and realizing what had been about to happen, both jumped back. Hiroe felt her face going red while Kurama adjusted his collar and cleared his throat.

"We better get going. They're probably hungry," said Kurama lightly.

"You're right. Let's go then," she replied a little shakily.

* * *

Masahiro stood in the shadow of a tree, his blue eyes narrowing dangerously as he watched Kurama and Hiroe walk away.

_That was way too close_, he thought angrily. _If I hadn't shown that stupid dog that image of a cat, Kurama would have kissed her. And to top it all off, Hiroe didn't even make a move to pull away! Has Kurama discovered who she is? Is she falling in love with him again? Are her old feelings resurfacing?_

He balled his hands into fists and punched the tree trunk beside him. The wood immediately shattered into a million pieces. Leaves rained upon him but he paid no mind to them.

_I have to act before it's too late. Youko Kurama, you must die!_

* * *

**A/N:** Another cliffy and more questions opened up! By the way, Ningenkai is the human world, Reikai is the spirit world and Makai is the demon world. Also, Koenma is literally translated as Enma's child, hence the comment Hiroe made. Thanks to duckichan87 and to cassity for leaving me reviews! You guys made my day. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

Kurama lay awake, staring blindly at the ceiling. He turned to look at the clock on his bedside for the umpteenth time. _2:45 AM. One more minute than the last time I checked._

He groaned as he sat up. _It's no use. I'm never going to fall asleep._

Kurama pushed the covers off him and stood. He walked over to his window and glanced up at the full moon. Memories of his almost kiss with Hiroe came unbidden into his thoughts. He ran his fingers through his hair restlessly and closed his eyes. He placed his forehead on the cold glass of his window.

_What the heck happened tonight? I almost lost control. I was going to kiss her, for goodness' sake! I should have more discipline than that!_

He opened his eyes and was startled to see Hiei staring back at him. He straightened and quickly opened the window.

"Hiei, what are you doing here? You're supposed to stay with Hiroe and Hinoto," asked Kurama.

"Yusuke and the others decided to sleep over during the weekend so don't worry, I didn't leave the sisters alone. I should be asking _you_ what you're doing. You should be asleep," retorted Hiei.

Kurama sighed. "I couldn't sleep. Anyway, did you have something to tell me?"

"Hiroe and Hinoto fell asleep just a few minutes ago. Yusuke wanted to talk to you in private so he asked me to come get you."

A laugh escaped Kurama as he said, "You're running errands for Yusuke? That's a surprise."

Hiei growled out, "It's not like that, fool. I'd been feeling claustrophobic inside the house and needed some fresh air so I decided to do this."

"OK, OK," replied Kurama with a smile. "Let's go."

With that, Kurama and Hiei leapt out the window and vanished into the night.

* * *

As Kurama and Hiei neared the house, they found Kuwabara and Yusuke sitting on the front steps waiting for them. When Yusuke caught sight of them, he stood up.

"So," said Kurama upon reaching Yusuke, "what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Why did you lie to them, Kurama?" asked Yusuke without hesitation.

"You mean why I didn't tell Hiroe the truth about my being a fox demon," corrected Kurama.

"Same shit," shrugged Yusuke. "She knows about everyone else. Why'd you hide the truth about yourself?"

"It's a completely selfish reason," replied Kurama quietly.

"I'd still like to hear it," prodded Yusuke.

Kurama let out a sigh and sat down. Yusuke and the others did the same.

"Have you ever gotten the feeling when you meet someone for the first time that somehow you've met before? The first time I saw Hiroe I instantly had a feeling that I knew her from somewhere."

"You think you met her when you were still in fox form?" asked Kuwabara.

"Yes. Ever since I saw her at the grocery store I'd been trying to recall where I've seen her before."

"But that's impossible!" uttered Kuwabara. "That would mean she's more than fifteen years old, right? Possibly even a hundred years old!"

"Well," said Yusuke pensively, "the sisters' Reikai files _are_ classified. That might have something to do with it."

"Then that would mean both of them are liars," said Hiei flatly.

"No. It could mean that they know nothing about any of this. It could mean that the Reikai keeps tabs on them because of their powers. It could even mean nothing at all and I'm just imagining things," countered Kurama.

"Then what are you planning, Kurama? How long are you going to hide the truth from them? They're bound to find out sooner or later," said Yusuke.

"Until I find out exactly why I'm feeling this way. Maybe forever, if I can help it. Another reason why I didn't tell her is because I want to protect her. It's too dangerous for her to know about my demon half. I have a lot of enemies as Youko and if they find out about her, I shudder to think what they might do."

"Ah," grinned Yusuke, "I get it now. You like her. As in _like_ like."

Kuwabara snickered. Hiei simply crossed his arms over his chest.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said Kurama coolly, but there was a hint of a blush on his cheeks.

"Sure you don't," said Yusuke. "Anyway, we'll keep your little secret. But I suggest you resolve your dilemma soon. If she finds out from someone else, she might lose her trust in you. Then you can't go all lovey dovey with her anymore."

Kuwabara and Yusuke burst out laughing at the thought. Kurama shook his head at their behavior, but the effect was lost because of the telltale pink tint still on his cheeks.

That was when Hiei stood up. "This is becoming pointless. I'm going upstairs to check on the sisters," he grumbled.

"I'll go with you," said Kurama, eager to get away from Yusuke and Kuwabara.

"Hey, Kurama! Why don't you sleep over as well? We're all here for the weekend anyway," suggested Yusuke.

"Yeah, I'll probably stay since I'm here anyway. We should do this every weekend until this mission's over," commented Kurama.

"Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Anyway we'd all better head inside. I'm sleepy," said Yusuke.

All four of them went inside and headed upstairs.

"Kuwabara and I are staying in the guest room. Hiei's taking the couch, Keiko's with Hinoto and Hiroe's all by herself. We'll save you a pillow and a blanket, unless you're planning on sleeping _with_ Hiroe," Yusuke told Kurama while wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Kurama gave Yusuke a dirty look, who laughed heartily, then made his way to the two other doors in the upstairs hallway. He heard a door behind him close and assumed Yusuke and Kuwabara had gone in the guest room.

"Her door's on the right," said Hiei. "I already checked Hinoto's room so I'm going downstairs."

"Thanks. Good night."

Hiei grunted then went downstairs. Kurama paused in front of Hiroe's door. _Should I or shouldn't I?_ he wondered. _After what happened earlier, I don't know if I can trust myself to be alone with her._

Suddenly, he smiled. _What am I doing? I'm thinking too much again! I'm just going to check on her. That should be easy enough._

With that thought in mind, he entered the room. His gaze fell on the bed then immediately froze in shock. He just stood there with the door wide open, blinking several times at the sight of Hiroe's figure, face pale. Slowly, he closed the door.

_It should be easy enough. But definitely _not_ when she's only in her underwear!_

* * *

Hiroe was blissfully unaware of the show she had inadvertently given poor Kurama. Of course, she didn't intentionally sleep wearing only her undergarments. She had just felt so exhausted, probably because of all the guests she had to entertain.

Whatever the reason was, she had undressed the minute she entered her room and flopped on the bed without bothering to put on her customary pajamas. She'd fallen asleep almost instantly.

Her slumber, however, wasn't dreamless.

* * *

A lovely girl stood on a balcony, her hands resting on the ledge. Her hair was extremely long, the tips of which were slightly grazing the ground. She wore what seemed to be a white kimono with a blue obi and floral embroidery but it looked more like a ball gown because of its billowing skirt and extended train. A crown rested around her head, its simplicity compared to an enlarged engagement ring.

She sighed softly in pleasure, surveying the exquisite, if unusual, scene before her. To her left, the vastness of Makai stretched out endlessly. To her right, a lush Ningenkai forest flourished.

Behind her, she heard the amused voice of her sister. "Fumiko-chan, why do you always stare at the Makai and the Ningenkai at the same time? Just pick one and focus your attention there. Better yet, ignore the Makai altogether and watch over the Ningenkai like you're supposed to."

Fumiko smiled but held her gaze on the view. "Misaki, in case you've forgotten, it's also part of my job to make sure that no demons from the Makai wander into the Ningenkai. Besides, don't you think the contrast between the two is amazing?"

"Yeah," retorted Misaki, "amazingly boring."

"I don't understand why you don't appreciate it. Anyway, why are you here? Shouldn't you be organizing a ball or having a new wardrobe made or something like that?"

Misaki rolled her eyes. "Oh, thank you for making me out to be so flighty."

Fumiko laughed and finally turned to look at her sister. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. Seriously, though, is anything wrong?"

Misaki tucked a few strands of hair that had escaped the bun atop her head behind her ear. Her red kimono wasn't as lavish as her sister's but it was still pleasing to the eye. "I just passed Goro in the hallway. He wanted me to tell you that a thief was able to get into the castle grounds from the Makai. They managed to wound him but he escaped into the woods."

"Is the thief still inside the castle walls?"

"Goro believes so. All the exits have been blocked and the men have taken positions around the wall should the thief try to go over them again. It seems that's how he got in."

"So he's alone? Have they started a search?"

"I think they're still waiting for word from you."

Fumiko sighed. "You say they wounded the thief? How many times have I told them to take it easy on intruders? Tell Goro to keep the security up but to leave the search to me. That thief will need healing."

Misaki nodded then left to do her sister's bidding. Fumiko turned back to look at the scenery, unwilling to leave just yet. Her yearning gaze centered on the Makai. She remembered her late father's words.

"_Fumiko, you must never set foot on the Makai. A lot of demons resent the fact that our kingdom stands between them and the Ningenkai because we make it difficult for them to get their next human meal. The second they find out that you're outside the castle grounds, you'll be killed."_

She had heeded his warning but how she longed to go there, just once. She sighed again then left to go outside the castle and deal with the thief. When she reached the door, she saw that Goro, the captain of her guards, was waiting for her.

Bowing deeply, Goro greeted her. "Princess Fumiko, I apologize for not being able to restrain myself. The thief is surely injured for two of my arrows hit him squarely."

"It's all right, Goro. Please do try to hold back next time."

"Yes, Princess. But Princess, are you certain you want to do this by yourself? He could be dangerous."

"I'm sure I'll be fine, Goro. Now then, let me search for our thief."

Fumiko stepped out of the castle and headed into the woods. She knew it by heart, having spent most of her time in them. Minutes later, a bluebird perched itself on her shoulder. She said, "Hello, Aoki-chan. I take it you know where to find him?"

The bird chirped. Fumiko nodded, understanding what the bird said, "Let's head to the brook then. Are his injuries severe?"

The bird tweeted again and Fumiko quickened her pace. "He's bleeding badly? We better hurry."

Upon reaching the brook, Fumiko stopped and leaned against a tree trunk. She stared in wonder at the magnificent demon that stood near the water's edge. She was sure it was a demon even if Misaki hadn't told her he came from the Makai.

He had long silver-white hair which glistened under the sun, a tall, well-built physique covered in white strips of cloth draped around him, and two fuzzy ears on top of his head. He was pulling out the arrow lodged clean through his left shoulder. Fumiko quickly spotted the other arrow pierced in his right thigh. Both wounds bled profusely, and he was aggravating it with his actions.

Before she could even blink, the demon disappeared. As she rushed out of her hiding spot, an arm encircled her throat from behind and she was pulled towards the demon.

"One move and you die," he said calmly.

"Please," begged Fumiko, "let me see to your wounds. I have no wish to harm you."

The demon almost laughed at her words. Harm him? The top of her head barely reached his shoulders. As he pondered this, he saw the band of white gold around her head. _The crown_, he thought.

"You're the Ningenkai princess," he declared.

Fumiko's eyes widened in surprise. "Yes, I am. And I promise to let you go but you have to let me look at your wounds."

"Why?" he asked harshly.

"To heal them, of course. I'm sorry you were wounded, but I can't really blame my men because they were only trying to protect the castle."

The demon considered her words, then slowly released her. _If she wants to heal me then fine. After I'm all fixed up, I'll just kill her and grab the crown. How stupid is she to bring exactly what I came for to me?_

"You know, you can't pull the crown off my head. I'm the only one who can take it off. And if you kill me, the crown will disappear and rest on my sister's head," Fumiko said gently.

The demon's sharp gaze snapped towards Fumiko's back. She turned around to finally face him. He was staggered by her beauty and the kindness in her grey eyes.

Fumiko, on the other hand, couldn't stop staring at his stunning gold eyes. Her heart beat furiously. _He's beautiful._

"A mind reader. Hn. That's the last you'll hear of my thoughts, girl," he bit out angrily.

Fumiko only smiled. She stepped closer to him then placed her hand on his shoulder wound. He winced. She explained, "You can't pull these out because these arrows were formed using spirit energy. Only the one who made them can remove them."

"And you," he added.

"Yes," she agreed. She swiftly yanked out the arrow but the demon was surprised that there wasn't any pain in the act. The white stone in the middle of Fumiko's crown began to glow and the demon found that his wound was gone. She then kneeled gracefully and tended to the other wound.

"All done," she announced, looking up at him.

The demon looked down at her, not sure what to make of her. Her next words shocked him.

"I promised to let you go so I'll open up a portal that leads directly to the Makai."

"I never expected you to make good on that promise," he confessed.

Fumiko laughed and the sound made the demon's heart flutter just a tiny bit. "It comes with a price, though."

The demon snorted. "Should've known. What is it then?"

"Your name. And a promise to meet again."

The demon let out a laugh of his own, although cold and humorless. "And if I refuse?"

Fumiko shrugged daintily. The demon knew he had no choice anyway so he said, "Fine."

With a wave of her hand, a black hole opened behind him. The demon turned to walk towards it. Just before he stepped through, he said, "The name is Kurama. Youko Kurama. We'll meet again, Princess, because I refuse to leave empty-handed."

And then he was gone. Fumiko smiled sadly.

* * *

Hiroe whispered in her sleep, "That is untrue, Youko Kurama. You do not leave this place empty-handed. You've stolen my heart."

* * *

**A/N: **I think this chapter provided answers to some of the questions opened up from the previous chapter. But then, more new questions have come up in this one. Yes, I do enjoy messing with my readers. Just kidding! This is just the way the story's supposed to flow. Plus I love writing cliffies. I'm EVIL, my beta reader says.

Thanks to my reviewers duckichan87 and SlightlyBroken14. You guys are the best! I adore reviews and you have no idea how much they help me as a writer. That said, please review this one and tell me what you think!


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

Fumiko walked with graceful yet hurried steps towards the door leading out of the palace. Her heart pounded with anticipation and she felt like she was about to burst from excitement.

_Today's definitely the day, I'm sure of it!_

"Where are you going, Fumiko?" asked Misaki.

Fumiko almost stumbled in surprise as she turned to where her sister's voice had come from. She took a deep breath and patiently explained, "To the woods, where else?"

Misaki cast a worried glance at her older sister. "You've been there every day ever since you let that thief go. What's going on?"

"I…" began Fumiko hesitantly.

"I promise not to bug you anymore if you would just ease my worry."

Fumiko nodded and held out her hands. "I'd rather show you."

Misaki took her sister's hands and closed her eyes. Fumiko's meeting with the Youko flashed through her mind.

"_That is untrue, Youko Kurama. You do not leave this place empty-handed. You've stolen my heart."_

Misaki released Fumiko's hands and looked evenly at her sister. "You're in love with a demon?"

Fumiko averted her gaze and said, "I don't expect you to understand, Misaki."

"There's nothing to understand. It's forbidden!" cried out Misaki.

"You promised you wouldn't bug me."

"This is different! Fumiko, you're wasting your time and your feelings on this Youko Kurama. For one thing, he's a thief who wants to steal the crown. But more importantly, he's a demon! It's simply not allowed!"

"I think we've established that fact. And don't you think I know that already? I can't choose who I fall in love with."

"You know you're never going to be with him."

Fumiko's hands tightened into fists. She replied in a clipped tone, "If I have to abdicate, I will."

"Have you lost your mind? Does he even return your feelings?"

"To be honest, I haven't seen him since that day. But he'll be back. I'm sure of it. And if I have to, I'll go to the Makai to look for him."

"This is insane. You made a vow to never go the Makai. We both made that vow, Fumiko! You're going to get yourself killed."

"Do you think I care?"

"You should!" screamed Misaki. "You're being irrational and irresponsible! That's _my_ job! You're the Ningenkai Princess."

"I didn't ask to be!" Fumiko yelled back.

"Well you still are!"

"Look, why are you so set against this? I thought you'd at least be more supportive."

Misaki sighed in defeat. "Frankly, I have nothing against it. I just don't want to see you hurt. We both know nothing will come out of this. Even if this demon loves you back, you will never be allowed to wed. You certainly can't bear half-human, half-demon children. They will be shunned by both our race and theirs. You're just setting yourself up for the fall. I don't want that to happen to you, Fumiko."

"It's too late, Misaki. I've already fallen."

* * *

Koenma stood before his father, King Enma. He had just finished talking to Botan and was astonished by the fact that both Hiroe and Hinoto possessed powers. While it wasn't all that unusual for some humans to have a high amount of spirit energy, Hiroe's abilities superseded Kuwabara's own. As far as he knew, Kuwabara was the strongest human alive. Anyone else who was more powerful than Kuwabara was either dead or not human at all.

Koenma decided it was time to confront his father about this. Why were the sisters' Reikai files classified? How did they come to have such powers? He had to know.

"Father, you must tell me what's going on. How can I help them if I know nothing about them? Why all this secrecy?" inquired Koenma.

"You should know, Koenma, that behind every decision I make is a very compelling reason. What you're asking of me is something I cannot grant you just yet," said Enma.

"At least tell me why this has been kept from everyone, including me."

"It's for their protection. In fact, it's for the safety of everyone in the Ningenkai and the Reikai. No one must know who they are or there will be chaos."

"But someone's already after them, Father! Their parents were murdered by a still unidentified demon. I did my own digging and when I discovered that the files of Hiroe and Hinoto Aihara are classified, I immediately sent Yusuke and the others to watch over them. Botan told me that not two days after, they found out that both sisters are being tailed by two more unknown demons. The knowledge you're trying so hard to keep under wraps may already have been uncovered. Please, Father, I have to understand. I want to protect them as much as you do," argued Koenma.

Enma sat back on his throne, pondering what Koenma had said. "Did you also ask Youko Kurama to be a part of this mission?"

Koenma raised an eyebrow at the question but answered it anyway. "Yes. He and Hiroe are classmates so I thought it would be easier for him to keep an eye on her."

Enma again paused, deep in thought. "Is it finally time?"

"I'm sorry, Father. Time for what?"

"Koenma, I've kept this secret for more than a thousand years, even before you were born. I'll let you know, but you must swear not to reveal this to anyone else until I myself tell you to do so. Do you understand?" asked Enma harshly.

"I promise, Father."

* * *

Hinoto woke up the next morning feeling thirsty. She silently slipped out of bed and closed the door quietly so as not to disturb a dozing Keiko. When she reached the kitchen, she glanced at the clock perched on top of the refrigerator and was surprised to see that it was only six in the morning.

Shrugging her shoulders, she opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a carton of orange juice. She closed the door and turned around, intending to get a glass, but was startled to see Hiei watching her. She let out a gasp and dropped the carton in her hand. In the blink of an eye, Hiei disappeared then reappeared beside her with the juice container safely in his grasp.

"Honestly. Don't just go sneaking up on people like that. You nearly gave me a heart attack!" said Hinoto with annoyance.

"You should be more aware of your surroundings," growled Hiei.

Hinoto muttered something inaudible under her breath. Hiei strained to hear her but only caught the words "rude" and "insensitive". He wisely chose to ignore her and instead shoved the juice carton in front of her. She reached out to take it.

"Thanks," she mumbled.

Their fingers brushed and the contact instantly had an effect on both of them. Hiei was left with a tingling sensation running through his entire body. He let out a choked sound, completely caught unaware and utterly confused.

Hinoto had a different reaction. Memories not her own flashed in her mind. Pain unlike anything she'd felt in her visions coursed through her, not just in her head but her whole body. She cried out, her knees giving way. She dimly felt Hiei's arms around her shortly before she blacked out.

* * *

Hiroe woke up feeling slightly disoriented. She glanced around her room, half-expecting something, but she didn't really know what. She pulled herself up to a sitting position.

_What a strange dream_, she thought. _I wonder if any of it is real. And if it is, why did I dream about it? Who are Princess Fumiko, Misaki and Youko Kurama?_

She shook her head slightly, trying to clear the remnants of the dream but failing. Images of the white haired, golden eyed demon kept dancing in her mind.

_I'm being silly. He's just a dream. A very handsome dream._

Hiroe blushed, in spite of herself. She unconsciously ran her hands through her hair to smooth it out. She noted her bare arms then she realized she was half-naked.

_Oh dear. I must have been dead tired to have forgotten to put on my pajamas. I hope nobody checked on me last night. Speaking of which, I should prepare something to eat for my guests._

Hiroe hurriedly got dressed and stepped out of her room, bumping into Kurama in the process.

"Shuuichi-kun! When did you get here?" she asked in surprise.

"Actually, I came back last night after you had gone to bed. I remembered something I needed to talk to Yusuke about and I ended up staying over. I hope you don't mind," replied Kurama.

"No, of course not. I was just about to prepare breakfast."

"Hiroe, it's almost twelve noon."

"Lunch then. Oh my, I didn't realize it was this late! I hope you guys aren't too hungry."

"Yusuke and Kuwabara aren't even awake yet so you don't have to worry. I was just about to wake you though. Hiei told me Hinoto fainted."

Hiroe was instantly alert. "What happened? Was it a vision?"

Kurama shook his head. "He didn't say. He just told me that she fainted then he left."

"Hiei left? Why would he leave?" asked Hiroe in confusion.

"I was hoping you would tell me. He looked kind of irritated to me. He said he'd been watching her since early this morning but that he needed to go out and think."

Understanding dawned onto Hiroe's features. "I think I know what happened. You don't mind checking on Hinoto for me, do you? I'll go get lunch ready for when she and the others wake up. Is Keiko still with her?"

"No, she left a little while ago to get some clothes for Yusuke and Kuwabara. I'll stay with her for a while and then I'll help you out in the kitchen."

Hiroe nodded and the two went their separate ways.

* * *

Hinoto slowly opened her eyes. She blinked several times, trying to adjust to the light flooding from the window. She looked around, a bit disoriented.

"Ah, you're awake. Are you feeling better?"

Hinoto turned to her left and saw Kurama leaning against the wall.

"What happened?" she croaked out.

"I'm not really sure," Kurama replied. "Hiei woke me up a few hours ago saying you'd fainted and before I could ask him what happened, he just left."

Hinoto bolted upright, suddenly recalling everything. Kurama approached the bed and sat down. "Care to tell me about it?"

Hinoto regarded Kurama carefully then said, "You and Hiei are close friends, right?"

Kurama laughed. "I guess so. Why do you ask?"

"He's been through a lot, hasn't he? I'll be glad to tell you what happened, but you must answer something first. And you have to tell me the truth because I'd know if you're lying."

Kurama cocked his head sideways and waited for Hinoto to ask her question.

"Why did you hide your identity from us, Kurama?"

Kurama's expression darkened. "You found all this out from Hiei, didn't you? You touched him and you saw his memories. No wonder he was so ticked off."

"Answer my question," Hinoto said stubbornly.

Kurama sighed. "Hinoto, you have to believe me when I say that I did it to protect the two of you. And to be honest, I've been having this feeling that I know Hiroe from somewhere. I just wanted to be sure first before revealing anything else."

Hinoto's face softened to a smile. "I can accept that. So I suppose you want me to keep this from Hiroe?"

"You'd do that?" asked Kurama in surprise.

"Hey, I don't really think any of this is my business. I just happened to find out. By force, even. But I'm warning you, I will not lie to my sister."

Kurama nodded. "I would never ask you to."

"Kurama, when you spoke to Hiei, you said he looked angry. Do you think he's mad at me?"

"I think he's more angry at himself for being so vulnerable. You have to understand, Hiei's been alone most of his life. He's had to fend for himself and survive under the harshest conditions. He doesn't open up to just anybody, sometimes not even to me. He probably knew what occurred when you touched him and to have all those things about himself laid out in the open to someone he'd just met is not something he can accept that quickly. Just give him time."

"He's interesting, that Hiei," said Hinoto thoughtfully.

"Ah, you like him," teased Kurama.

"What? No! I just think he's interesting, that's all!"

"Isn't that practically the same thing?"

Hinoto let out a very unladylike snort, to which Kurama chuckled. Then, her eyes became sad as she said, "I'd like to be his friend."

"I'm sure he'd appreciate that. God knows he doesn't have a lot of them, being such a grouch all the time. Anyway, if you feel up to it, Hiroe's preparing lunch downstairs. I'll tell her you're awake."

As Kurama made a move to get up, a hand on his arm stopped him. He immediately felt a chill travel up his arm from where Hinoto's hand lay. He snapped his gaze to Hinoto, who pulled her hand back.

"I'm…I'm sorry," she stammered.

"What did you see?" Kurama quietly inquired.

"A man who looked like a fox. Was that you?"

"Yes. Rather, he's what I used to look like."

"You were holding a girl. And there was a lot of blood because there was a katana thrust through her."

Kurama froze. The events of that day came rushing back to him. Hinoto fidgeted with worry and said, "I'm sorry. Was she your girlfriend?"

Kurama shook his head and smiled wryly, "No, she wasn't. But I loved her anyway. It happened almost a thousand years ago and I'd forgotten all about her."

Puzzled, Hinoto asked, "If you loved her so much, why would you forget about her?"

"Because I was the one who killed her."

* * *

"Everything is ready, Masahiro."

Masahiro narrowed his eyes and said, "Make sure that it is, Satoru. I don't want any mistakes."

Satoshi nodded. "We're sure, Masahiro. We can move anytime."

"All right then. We'll wait until the sisters are least guarded. Then we strike."

* * *

**A/N: **I am SO SORRY that this chapter took me so long to write. I haven't had much time on my hands lately (and the fact that I was trying to shift my focus on my other story) so I completely neglected updating this one. I do hope to have the next chapter up within the week but I'm not making any promises. My thanks to Alicia, SlightlyBroken, BrokenRedWings and Shikokudarkstar for reviewing my previous chapter. Your comments and suggestions are MUCH appreciated! Please do review this one and tell me what you think! 


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Yu Yu Hakusho. The original characters are mine.

* * *

**CHAPTER NINE**

Koenma sat back in his chair, his brooding gaze on the two thick folders lying open in front of him. He had just finished reading them and his mind was swimming with all the information he had gathered.

_This changes things_, he thought. _I'm surprised Father was able to keep this under wraps all this time._

He propped his elbows on the table and rested his head on his hands, utterly confused. He closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind.

_What should I do now? Should I take Kurama off the case? Should I talk to him about all this first and give him the right to decide on it?_

Koenma shook his head forcefully. _Don't be stupid! You can't talk about this to anyone, remember? Ugh, what am I going to do? This is just too overwhelming._

Just then, Botan barged into his office.

"Koenma-sama, what did Enma-sama say? Hey, are those the classified Reikai files on Hiroe and Hinoto-chan?" she asked without pausing for breath.

Koenma opened his eyes to look at Botan. Botan practically bounced over to Koenma, making a move to peer at the papers but he shut the folders closed before she could have a chance to look at their contents. The action caused Botan to jump back in surprise. She finally noticed the grim expression on Koenma's face.

"What's wrong, Koenma-sama?" said Botan worriedly.

"New orders, Botan," replied Koenma briskly. "Tell Yusuke and the others that they must never let both sisters out of their sight. Inform Hiroe that she'll be entertaining house guests for a while. Yusuke, Kurama, Hiei and Kuwabara are to move in with the sisters immediately. You are to bring the Reikai monitor and you are to report to me everyday. If anything unusual happens, let me know right away."

"Of course, Koenma-sama."

Koenma heaved a sigh. "I know you have a lot of questions and I can assure you that when the time comes I will answer all of it. God, I hope that day comes soon."

"How long do you think we have to stay with them?"

"As long as it takes, Botan. Right now, this is top priority."

* * *

"He said _what_?" asked Yusuke in disbelief. 

"I don't get it, Botan," said Hiroe. "Why the sudden need to do this?"

"I don't understand it myself, Hiroe. I'm just relaying the orders as they were given to me," said Botan helplessly.

"If that idiot expects me to babysit, I demand to know why," lashed out Hiei.

"Botan, can you please explain exactly what happened?" asked Kurama calmly.

Botan sent a grateful look at Kurama and let out a sigh. "I went back to the Reikai like you told me to and told Koenma-sama about everything we talked about here yesterday. To say that he was surprised upon hearing of Hiroe's and Hinoto's powers is putting it mildly. Anyway, he immediately went to Enma-sama and they were holed up in his office the entire night. When Koenma-sama summoned me back, he looked more distressed than when I had first talked to him and he just barked out those orders without any explanation at all."

The group was silent, internalizing what Botan had said. Kurama was the first to speak when he said, "This might be bigger than we thought. This could explain why Hiroe and Hinoto's Reikai files are classified."

Hiroe and Hinoto exchanged puzzled looks. "Reikai files? Why would we have files? We're not dead," said Hinoto.

"You know," responded Botan slowly, ignoring Hinoto's question, "I did see the files on Koenma-sama's desk. I think whatever the reason is would have something to do with what's in those files."

"Hello? Can someone please tell us why we have files?" inquired Hinoto impatiently.

"All of us have files in the Reikai, Hinoto. The Reikai uses these records to determine where you'll be spending your afterlife. When Koenma first started investigating the murders of your parents, he wanted to look at your files just to rule out the possibility that the demons responsible for their deaths were after you. That's when he discovered that your files are classified and can only be accessed by Enma Daio," explained Kurama.

"So what does it mean to have a classified Reikai file?" asked Hinoto.

"Apparently something big enough to have you put under constant protection," commented Yusuke irritably.

"Hey, don't take that tone with me, Yusuke. I don't like this as much as you do. In fact, I don't agree to this at all!" exclaimed Hinoto.

"Calm down, Hinoto," said Hiroe softly. "I'm sure we can find a way to work around this. Botan, is it possible for us to speak to this Koenma? Maybe we can convince him to tell us what's really going on. I think we all deserve some sort of explanation as to why this babysitting business is necessary."

"Well," said Botan hesitantly, "I did bring the Reikai monitor with me. It has a direct connection to Koenma-sama's office. It can only be viewed by those with high spirit energy, though."

"I'm sure I have enough of that, Botan," answered Hiroe breezily.

Without another word, Botan opened the white case she had been holding. Hiroe flinched slightly in alarm when the screen inside the case started flickering and Koenma's face appeared.

"Has anything happened, Botan?" asked Koenma sharply.

"Not really, Koenma-sama, but they want to talk to you," replied Botan timidly.

Koenma frowned, partly annoyed but mostly relieved. "There's nothing I can say at this moment."

"Like hell there isn't!" snapped Hiei.

Koenma scowled and bit back, "I'm working on it, Hiei. I don't particularly enjoy keeping all this to myself either and I would frankly appreciate your input regarding this whole situation but my Father has ordered me to shut up. And as much as I want to tell you what exactly the situation is, the truth is I don't fully understand it myself just yet."

"Can't you tell us something? Anything?" asked Hiroe.

Koenma turned to look at Hiroe and said, "There's nothing I can say that wouldn't lead to more questions on your part, Hiroe. For now, know that your safety equals the safety of the entire Ningenkai."

Stunned silence washed over the group. Koenma's words, though still obscure, hinted at something significant. It was then that the gravity of the situation, whatever the situation was, sank in.

Hiroe gave a brief nod. "I can accept that, for now. You _will_ explain this as soon as you can, won't you?"

"You have my word," Koenma answered.

* * *

Hinoto sighed loudly, her head spinning with everything she'd been through the past two days. First, it was that vision she had that started everything. Next came the revelation about the Reikai investigation on their parents' murder. After that, visions of Hiei's past practically killed her with its intensity. Then, it was her discovery of Kurama's real identity. Now they've suddenly acquired housemates. She shook her head and tried to clear her thoughts. 

Soon after their conversation with Koenma, everyone started to make preparations for what they figured would be a long stay. Yusuke and Botan headed over to Keiko's place to inform her of what's happening and to get more clothes. Kuwabara went home to tell his sister and to also grab some things. Kurama also left for home and Hiroe decided to tag along so she could get more groceries for her guests.

With everyone otherwise occupied, Hiei was the only one left to watch over Hinoto. She peered over her shoulder to where the spiky haired demon was sitting. Hiei was on the window ledge, staring outside with an indescribable expression on his face.

Hinoto recalled her conversation with Kurama and decided that this would be the best time to put her plan of becoming Hiei's friend into motion. She put on a wide smile and marched determinedly over to the window. "Hey, Hiei-san. What are you looking at?"

Hiei didn't even bother to glance her way and said in a monotone, "Stay away from me before you find out anymore things you have no business of knowing."

Hinoto immediately went on the defensive. "It wasn't like I intended for that to happen. But since you seem to think it's my fault anyway, I'll apologize. I'm sorry. I just thought we could become friends, that's all. I mean, we'll be spending a lot of time together."

Hiei finally turned around and pierced Hinoto with a cold stare. "Listen here. Just because you got to see into my sordid past doesn't give you the right to come up to me like you know everything about me. Now leave me alone."

With each word that came out of Hiei's mouth, Hinoto felt her temper rise. Still, she did her best to keep smiling. "I don't know what you're talking about, Hiei-san. I just figured…"

"I don't care what you figured out in that head of yours," cut in Hiei. "Let me make something clear to you. I'm only here because I don't have a choice. I have no intention of fraternizing with you or your sister. I'll do my job to protect you but that's it. So let's just make this easier on each other by you minding your own business and let me go about mine."

"Fine, be an ass," huffed Hinoto. She swiftly turned around and walked towards the direction of her room. Just before she went up the stairs, she said, "But I'm not giving up."

Hiei watched as Hinoto ran up the stairs. Under his breath, he muttered, "Thank god I'm in charge of watching Hiroe."

* * *

Hiroe's cellphone started to ring as she and Kurama were headed back to her house. She stopped in her tracks, set the numerous grocery bags she was carrying, and fished out her phone from her pocket. Upon seeing who was calling, she groaned out loud. 

"Why? Who's calling?" asked Kurama.

"It's our guardian, Atty. Haruo Ninomiya. I completely forgot about him, what with all this activity," explained Hiroe.

"Calm down. What did you have to do?"

"I agreed to come to dinner at their house with Hinoto every weekend since we wouldn't stay at their house."

"So, go. I don't think it'll be a problem."

"Oh, no. Not with all this Reikai business going on. I don't want to involve them in anything that might jeopardize their safety."

"We're not going to let that happen, Hiroe."

"That still doesn't change my mind," Hiroe said stubbornly.

"Then make up some excuse. I guess that's the only way out of it."

Hiroe cursed softly as she answered the call. "Hello, Haruo-san."

"Good evening, Hiroe. How are you and Hinoto doing?" asked Haruo.

"We're doing OK. We're both really busy with school and stuff. We have a lot to catch up on," replied Hiroe.

"Well, I hate to disturb your concentration. We'll just have the two of you over for dinner when you've settled in your new schools, all right?"

"That'll be a big help, Haruo-san. Thanks."

"No problem. Call me if anything comes up."

"I will, Haruo-san."

Hiroe smiled fondly as she ended the call. She and Kurama resumed walking home.

"You know," said Hiroe wistfully, "Haruo-san reminds me of my father sometimes. I guess that's why they were best friends."

"You and your father were close, I take it?" inquired Kurama.

"We were very close. I was basically Daddy's Little Girl, to put it bluntly. Though I think he thought of me more as the son he never had."

"How so?"

"Well, I'd go with him on business trips, watch sports with him, trained with him. He's the one who taught me martial arts. Hinoto was closer to my mom. They'd go on endless shopping trips, get facials and all that."

"Hiroe," said Kurama, his tone turning serious, "I meant to ask you this but it slipped my mind when all this confusion started."

"What is it?"

"You said you knew about your parents' murder since the beginning. What were you planning to do? I mean, were you going to start your own investigation? Or hunt for the demon yourself? Do you have any leads?"

Hiroe hesitated for a while before she took a deep breath and asked, "Can you trust me, Shuuichi?"

"Of course," said Kurama without pause.

Hiroe lifted her grey eyes to meet Kurama's gaze, utterly surprised. "You say that so easily."

"Do I have a reason not to trust you?"

Hiroe let out a soft laugh. "I can think of a couple of things but since you already said yes, I'll take your word for it. I want you to open your mind and let me in."

Kurama almost stumbled but quickly checked himself. _Dammit, I think I spoke too soon_, he thought.

Sensing Kurama's reluctance, Hiroe said jokingly, "Changed your mind?"

"No. I just don't know how I'd go about doing what you're asking of me," he said smoothly.

"Just close your eyes and don't fight me."

_Well, here goes._ Kurama closed his eyes, not knowing what to expect but already preparing what he would say should Hiroe find out about his identity while inside his head. Instead, Kurama saw images of the night of her parents' murder flash through his mind.

And then everything stopped and he saw the demon's face clear as day. His short hair was black as night. Soft bangs fell carelessly over his midnight blue eyes. He was really quite handsome had it not been for the expression of evil delight on his face.

Kurama opened his eyes and his heart wrenched at the anguish he saw on Hiroe's face but it disappeared so quickly that he wondered if he had just imagined it. He decided that he hadn't when she failed to mask the pain in her voice.

"Did you see his face? Did you see how glad he was while he murdered my family? To answer your question, yes, I was planning to look for him myself. I planned to track him down and ask him why he did this. And then I planned to kill him," she said.

"I'd be a hypocrite if I stopped you so I'll just ask you for your trust. Can you trust us enough to involve us and not to do anything on your own?"

Hiroe nodded slowly. "Then you must know something. I've never told Hinoto about this because I didn't want to worry her."

"What is it?"

"That demon, I've seen him before. And I think he's after me."

* * *

**A/N:** Yes, I know. I took entirely too long in updating this fic. Please forgive me, I've been so busy with my other story and real life finally caught up with me so I really didn't have enough time to work on this. Reviews, comments and suggestions will be appreciated, and flames will be blissfully ignored. Thanks to SlightlyBroken, Shadow Ice Maiden and Shikokudarkstar for your wonderful comments! I hope you enjoy this chapter! 


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